Evacuation Alert Issued Due to Bushfire in Melbourne, Australia
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Sydney, Dec 18 (NationPress) Residents and campers in a national park located to the west of Melbourne, the capital of Australia's Victoria state, have been mandated to evacuate as a bushfire endangers properties.
On Wednesday afternoon, Victorian authorities released an emergency alert for the small towns of Victoria Valley and Mirranatwa, situated approximately 240 km west of Melbourne within the Grampians National Park.
The alert, issued around 4 pm local time, indicated that a bushfire, which has been ablaze since Monday, remains uncontrolled and has now encroached upon properties in Mirranatwa.
Residents and campers in this region are urged to evacuate southward to the town of Dunkeld, where a relief center has been established.
"Immediate evacuation is the safest choice, before conditions escalate to dangerous levels," the alert cautioned.
The fire started on Monday, coinciding with temperatures across Victoria surpassing 40 degrees Celsius, marking the hottest December day in the state since 2019, as reported by Xinhua news agency.
As of Wednesday, the blaze has consumed 564 hectares of bushland in the mountainous southern part of the national park.
VicEmergency incident controller Mark Gunning informed the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the fire is raging in areas that are hard to reach, complicating efforts for fire crews to manage it.
He mentioned that authorities anticipate battling the fire for several weeks.
Earlier on Monday evening, emergency services urged residents of the small towns of Creswick and Dean, located about 100 km west of Melbourne, to evacuate immediately due to the threat of an uncontrolled bushfire.
"Immediate evacuation is the safest choice, before conditions escalate to dangerous levels. Emergency services may not be able to assist if you choose to stay," the alert warned.
Nearly 60 vehicles and 250 firefighters from the Country Fire Authority in Victoria have been mobilized to combat the fire.
