A fire has spread across 150,000 hectares in the town of Longwood, Victoria. Three people were previously reported missing in the area but were later found unharmed.
Forest fires are also raging in other parts of the country. At one point, around 90,000 households and businesses were without power as a result of the fires, which have destroyed many homes and burned large areas of forest.
In New South Wales, home to the major city of Sydney, several total fire bans have been issued in anticipation of temperatures expected to rise above 40 degrees on Saturday.
Australia has suffered devastating bushfires in the past. During the 2019–2020 Australian summer, popularly known as the “black summer,” a total of 170,000 square kilometers burned. That’s roughly the size of Svealand and Götaland combined. The fires claimed 33 lives and an estimated one billion animals fell victim to the flames.
