Thousands of Australians fled their homes Saturday as strong winds pushed bushfires across vast stretches of South Australia and Victoria.
From the BBC:
Firefighters are battling out-of-control bushfires threatening homes in South Australia and Victoria.
Police have declared a major emergency and told residents that their lives are at risk.
South Australia’s fire chief said the blazes in the Adelaide Hills, northeast of Adelaide city, were the worst since the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983.
Those fires left 75 people dead and caused devastation across parts of Victoria and South Australia.
“At the moment, we have a fire which is extremely dangerous and it is burning under extremely adverse conditions,” South Australia fire chief Greg Nettleton was quoted as saying.
“Right at this moment, residents in the Adelaide Hills are being confronted by a fire which hasn’t been seen in the hills since the 1983 bushfires of Ash Wednesday,” Nettleton said.
Crews have also been fighting bushfires in Victoria but all warnings have now been downgraded as a cold front moves into the area.
“Hopefully tomorrow and the next few days the fire danger will ease as this cold front passes through Victoria,” a spokesman from the area’s fire authority told ABC news.
So far about five homes have been confirmed destroyed but authorities said that dozens more were feared lost.
