One dead and 300 buildings destroyed in Australian bushfires

One person has died and 300 homes and buildings have been destroyed in bushfires that have ravaged southeastern Australia.

Fires have been raging for several days in dozens of places across the country, mainly in the state of Victoria, but also in New South Wales, burning an area almost twice the size of Greater London.

A state of emergency was declared in Victoria as thousands of firefighters and more than 70 planes battled the blaze. Residents in more than a dozen communities were asked to leave their homes.

Authorities fear the fires, fueled by very hot, dry and windy conditions, could last for several weeks.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said 30 active fires were burning across the state, ten of which were of particular concern.

She said 350,000 hectares had been burned across the state as of 8 a.m. local time (2300 GMT Saturday) on Sunday.

“We will see the fires continue for some time across the state and that is why we are not through the worst by far yet,” she told Australian media.

“Fires are currently continuing and threatening homes and property.”

Human remains were found in the village of Gobur, near the town of Longwood, about 110 km north of the state capital Melbourne, police said. The victim has not yet been identified.

Allan praised rescue workers who worked to recover the body. “It’s hard, challenging work, and it’s expensive.”

“The Gobur community is in mourning,” Allan said.

Bushfire smoke impacts air quality in many areas of Victoria, including the Melbourne metropolitan area.

Authorities said the fires were the worst to hit southeast Australia since the 2019-20 fires that destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people.

One of the worst-hit places is the small town of Harcourt in Victoria’s Central Highlands, where firefighter Tyrone Rice lost his home in the blaze. He was fighting one of the bushfires when he learned his own house was on fire.

He told Australian media it was “like a kick in the gut, but I’m not the first person to experience this, and I won’t be the last.”

The destruction in Harcourt was “heartbreaking,” local fire captain Andrew Wilson said.

A journalist for the Australian newspaper 9 News, Jack Ward, told BBC World Service he had seen the damage in several towns in Western Australia. What he saw was “catastrophic,” he said, and in many places, “all that’s left of these houses is a tin roof on the ground.”