On Thursday, over two thousand individuals were instructed to evacuate from communities west of Victoria state in Australia, where an uncontrollable bushfire raged. The state’s emergency service issued a directive for residents in Raglan and Beaufort, housing around two thousand people, as well as those in adjacent areas, to promptly evacuate. Simultaneously, it was deemed safe for them to relocate eastward towards the nearby regional center of Ballarat, located 95 km (59 miles) west of Melbourne.
CFA chief fire officer Jason Heffernan said the fire was “moving very quickly” into the Beaufort area. He warned that a wind change forecast for 6 pm could worsen conditions and turn the fire into a major blaze moving towards the town of Ballarat. More strike teams of firefighting crews from Melbourne were en route to the region. Ms Heffernan called on residents to follow updates on the VicEmergency app or phone emergency services if they had any concerns. “This is a dangerous time, and the situation will get worse before it gets better,” she said.
Families in the affected towns were packing and heading for Ballarat, with a relief center set up at Lake Wendouree Football Club and another at Alexander Oval in Ararat. The western highway between Ballarat and Ararat has been closed, and train lines between the towns have also been suspended. Several prisoners with health conditions exacerbated by smoke at the Langi Kal Kal prison were preparing to be evacuated.
Over 5000 Victorian households are without power, with the numbers expected to rise as hot temperatures and strong winds cause powerline outages. Energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio tweeted that the extreme weather had caused numerous outages and that crews were working hard to restore supplies as soon as possible. She urged Victorians to stay up to date on the app, not to approach fallen powerlines, and to seek shelter from bushfires.