Australia’s south-east is bracing for extreme fire conditions as Boxing Day brings a scorching heatwave, with dangerously hot and dry weather expected to sweep across several states.
Damaging winds gusting to 100 km/h on Thursday will exacerbate fire danger, potentially fueled by bushfires in areas across Victoria, south west New South Wales, and much of eastern South Australia. Temperatures are going to reach the high 30s to low 40s Celsius in much of the country, reaching a scorching 47°C in the Queens land town of Birdsville.
According to Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Narramore, the strong winds could even knock down trees and power lines, which might result in minor power outages. A high-pressure trough, which brought Christmas Day heat to South Australia, is now moving towards Victoria, bringing with it extreme fire risks.
Victoria is the worst, with all of the state at heightened risk except for one region. Total fire bans have been declared across South Australia’s Mid North, Riverland, Murraylands, Upper South East, and Lower South East regions. The extreme conditions could worsen the ongoing bushfire in Victoria’s Grampians National Park, which has already consumed more than 40,000 hectares.
Authorities have asked the residents of high-risk places like Grampians, The Gurdies, Bullengarook, and Creswick to enact bushfire survival plans. People living in vulnerable towns like Bornes Hill, Moyston, and Pomonal have been ordered to evacuate.
Firefighters in multiple states are working flat out to secure containment lines as conditions are expected to worsen, with some predicting the worst fire conditions since the 2019 Black Summer. Power provider AusNet has warned power outages may occur as a precaution to prevent fires from starting, with some outages lasting longer to ensure safety precautions. A cool change arrives Thursday night, and the fire danger will shift towards central and north-eastern New South Wales.
