Sydney, Jan 6 (IANS): Cooler weather conditions and rainfall have allowed authorities in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria to gain control over a major bushfire that has been burning since mid-December.
On Monday, Victorian authorities downgraded emergency warnings for the fire in the Grampians National Park, located about 230 km west of Melbourne, enabling residents of nearby evacuated towns to return home.
The drop in temperatures—from a scorching 40 degrees Celsius on Sunday to below 15 degrees on Monday—along with rainfall, played a crucial role in helping firefighters contain the blaze.
The fire, ignited by lightning on December 16, scorched more than 76,000 hectares of land across the national park and its surrounding areas. Evacuation orders had been issued in late December for communities at risk. Emergency Management Victoria confirmed that the fire destroyed four homes, 40 outbuildings, and killed hundreds of animals.
Incident Controller Peter West told local media that officially containing the fire is an important step toward reopening parts of the national park to the public. However, he warned that full extinguishment could take several weeks, with small flare-ups likely in the meantime.
During the weeks the fire burned uncontrollably, hundreds of firefighters, supported by water-bombing aircraft from across Australia, were deployed to combat the blaze.
Previously, on December 22, authorities had warned residents in six towns near the national park that evacuations could last several weeks as the fire continued to spread. By then, over 34,000 hectares had already been consumed, with more than 300 firefighters working to slow the fire’s progress.
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