Wildfires in the Australian state of Victoria have killed at least one person, destroyed dozens of homes and burned nearly 900,000 acres since last week, the authorities said on Sunday.
The fires were sparked by a searing heat wave across much of the country that brought record-breaking temperatures and created the worst fire conditions since Australia’s deadly Black Summer fires in 2019 and 2020. Most were started by lightning strikes last Thursday.
Over 30 wildfires were burning across Victoria on Sunday, Jacinta Allan, the state premier, said at a news conference on Sunday morning.
Some were near the northeast border with the state of New South Wales. Others were in Great Otway National Park, near the scenic Great Ocean Road on the southern coast, or outside towns north of Melbourne, the state capital and the country’s second largest city.
The heat wave eased on Sunday, after peaking on Friday and Saturday with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit. That drop allowed firefighters to begin reining in some of the fires. But conditions remained warm and windy, and a total fire ban remained in place across the state.
“Today is another difficult day for fire in the landscape in many parts of Victoria,” Ms. Allan said, adding that over 860,000 acres had burned in the state. “It continues to be warm, it continues to be windy and there are already existing fires.”
One of Victoria’s largest wildfires on Sunday was burning near Longwood, a town of fewer than 300 people that is 70 miles northeast of Melbourne, a city of about five million. The fire has a perimeter of about 250 miles and has destroyed about 150 structures, said Tim Wiebusch, Victoria’s emergency management commissioner.
He added that dozens of the hundreds of structures destroyed in the Victoria fires were homes.
One person’s remains were found in the area around the Longwood fire, the Victoria Police said on Sunday, adding that the person had not been formally identified.
Another destructive fire razed buildings in the town of Harcourt, where the authorities said that 47 homes and three businesses were lost. That fire was 80 percent contained on Sunday, Ms. Allan said.
Three firefighters were injured fighting the blazes, the authorities said.
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news.
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