Sydney, Jan 6 (NationPress) With the arrival of cooler weather and rain, officials in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria have successfully contained a significant bushfire that has been raging since mid-December.

On Monday, Victorian authorities dropped emergency warnings for the bushfire located in the Grampians National Park, roughly 230 km west of Melbourne, allowing residents of nearby communities who had evacuated to return home.

The efforts of firefighters were bolstered by a drop in temperature from a high of 40 degrees Celsius (C) on Sunday to below 15C on Monday, which was accompanied by rainfall.

This fire, ignited by lightning on December 16, has devastated over 76,000 hectares of land within the national park and adjacent regions.

In late December, communities surrounding the national park were compelled to evacuate due to the imminent danger posed by the fire. According to Emergency Management Victoria, as of Monday, four homes and 40 outbuildings have been lost to the blaze, with hundreds of animals also perishing, as reported by Xinhua news agency.

Incident Controller Peter West informed the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that officially marking the fire as contained is a crucial step toward reopening areas of the national park to the public.

However, he cautioned that it might take several weeks to fully extinguish the fire, with minor flare-ups expected in the interim.

Hundreds of firefighters, along with water-bombing aircraft from across Australia, participated in the extensive efforts to control the fire during the weeks it was out of control.

On December 22, residents who had evacuated from multiple towns in southeastern Australia due to this major bushfire were informed they might be away from home for several weeks as the fire continued to expand.

Thousands of individuals from six towns in and around the Grampians National Park, located around 230 kilometers west of Melbourne in Victoria, were ordered to evacuate as the fire posed a significant threat to lives and property.

The blaze had already consumed more than 34,000 hectares of land, and over 300 firefighters and water-bombing aircraft were deployed to mitigate its spread.