SYDNEY – Australian authorities said on Sunday it would take firefighters weeks to get on top of bushfires in the country’s southeast that have razed homes, cut power to thousands of homes and burned swathes of bushland.
The blazes have torn through more than 300,000 hectares (741,316 acres) of bushland in Victoria state since the middle of the week, destroying more than 130 properties, including homes, and leaving thousands without power.
There were more than 30 fires burning in Victoria on Sunday morning, Premier Jacinta Allan said. In neighbouring New South Wales state, several fires close to the Victorian border were burning at emergency level, the highest danger rating, the state’s Rural Fire Service said.
Authorities have said the fires are the worst to hit the southeast since the Black Summer blazes of 2019-2020 that destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people.
Chief Fire Officer of Forest Fire Management Victoria, Chris Hardman, said it would likely take firefighters weeks to get the upper hand on the fires.
“These fires will not be contained before it gets hot, dry and windy again,” Hardman told Australian Broadcasting Corporation television.
Allan said on social media platform X that a total fire ban was in place for Victoria as thousands of firefighters and more than 70 aircraft battled the blazes.
“Bushfire smoke is impacting air quality in many areas across Victoria, including metropolitan Melbourne,” she added.
One of the largest fires, near the town of Longwood, about 112 km north of Melbourne, has burned 130,000 hectares (320,000 acres) of bushland, destroying 30 structures, vineyards and agricultural land.
“My thoughts are with Australians in these regional communities at this very difficult time,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in televised remarks on Saturday.