A man takes a cooling drink from a water fountain in downtown Melbourne, Victoria, on Tuesday amid a heatwave that has seen some of the highest temperatures in 20 years and fanned intense wildfires in the southwest and west of the state. Photo by Michael Currie/EPA
Wildfires continued to rage out of control across southwestern regions of the Australian state of Victoria on Tuesday, fanned by record high temperatures and a shift in the direction of winds gusting at more than 40 mph, authorities said.
At least three homes were feared razed near the town of Gellibrand in the Otways region, west of Melbourne, where firefighters were battling blazes intensified by the wind change with residents ordered to evacuate the so-called Carlisle River bushfire.
The fire is among six that have been scorching areas close to settlements for days, including a fast-moving grass fire northeast of Camperdown, which was threatening the town of Lismore, around 20 miles away, and an uncontrolled wildfire west of the Grampians National Park.
The Otways fire was “running hard and fast” since the change of wind direction on Tuesday afternoon, said Forest Fire Management Victoria Chief Fire Officer Chris Hardman.
“Right now is the very worst period that we’ll be facing,” he said.
Country Fire Authority chief officer Jason Heffernan warned people against complacency and appealed to them not to attempt to travel.
Another fire in Larralea was also causing significant concern, with an emergency warning in place.
“That fire is burning in a southeasterly direction, and we’ve had 40 tankers respond to that,” said Country Fire Authority deputy chief officer Rohan Luke.
“It’s the most significant fire for us, outside of the existing fires in the landscape,” he added.
The fires came amid record-breaking highs Tuesday, with preliminary data showing temperatures topping 120 F in the northwest of the state.
The temperature in the Mallee towns of Hopetoun and Walpeup beat the previous record high of 119.8 degrees Fahrenheit in February 2009, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Victorian health authorities issued heat-related illness warnings due to the extreme temperatures combined with high night-time temperatures, urging people to remain vigilant for symptoms of heatstroke.
Warnings for extreme heat and fire were also in place across much of neighboring South Australia and western parts of New South Wales, where temperature records also fell.
The long-range forecast is for above-average temperatures day and night across much of Australia through April, with global warming being blamed for exacerbating extreme weather events like heatwaves and wildfires and causing them to occur more often.
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Picketers hold signs outside at the entrance to Mount Sinai Hospital on Monday in New York City. Nearly 15,000 nurses across New York City are now on strike after no agreement was reached ahead of the deadline for contract negotiations. It is the largest nurses’ strike in NYC’s history. The hospital locations impacted by the strike include Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, Montefiore Hospital and New York Presbyterian Hospital. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
