Around 100,000 people were urged to flee five Melbourne suburbs on Monday evening as Australia’s spiralling bushfire crisis killed a volunteer firefighter battling a separate blaze in the countryside.
Authorities in the country’s second-biggest city downgraded an earlier bushfire emergency warning but said residents should steer clear of the blaze, which has burned through 40 hectares (nearly 100 acres) of grassland.
In Bundoora — just 16 kilometres (10 miles) north of the city centre and home to two major Australian university campuses — the fire’s spread toward houses had been halted for now but it was yet to be brought under control, said Victoria Emergency.
Local media showed images of water bombers flying over neighbourhoods, and families hosing down their homes in the hope of halting the fire’s spread.
A volunteer firefighter died in New South Wales state and two others suffered burns while working on a blaze more than five hours south-west of Sydney, the Rural Fire Service said.
“It’s believed that the truck rolled when hit by extreme winds,” the agency said in a tweet.
Ten others, including two volunteer firefighters, have been killed so far this fire season.
The crisis has focused attention on climate change — which scientists say is creating a longer and more intense bushfire season — and sparked street protests calling for immediate action to tackle global warming.
While conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison belatedly acknowledged a link between the fires and climate change, he has continued his staunch support of Australia’s lucrative coal mining industry and ruled out further action to reduce emissions.
The blazes have also destroyed more than 1,000 homes and scorched more than three million hectares (7.4 million acres) — an area bigger than Belgium.
A heatwave sweeping the country Monday fuelled the latest destruction in Australia’s devastating summer fire season, which has been turbocharged by a prolonged drought and climate change.
