Australian authorities on Thursday urged people in dozens of rural communities to leave home “immediately” to escape an out-of-control bushfire tearing through a national park.
About 600 firefighters were battling the blaze in the Grampians National Park 240kms west of Melbourne, a Victoria state emergency services spokesperson said.
The blaze has persisted for more than a week in hot, windy conditions, scorching 136,000 acres - about one-third of the park - so far without causing deaths or destroying homes.
State emergency services warned residents to leave home immediately in more than two dozen mostly small rural communities, with populations ranging from as few as six to as many as several hundred.
People in several other communities were told to take shelter indoors because it was unsafe to leave.
Firefighters expected shifting winds to complicate their task, said Victoria state control centre spokesman Luke Hegarty.
The State Control Centre of the Victoria Emergency Services officials stand by a road near a bushfire in the Grampians National Park in Australia’s Victoria state.
