Australians Urged to Flee as Gales Threaten New Fire Disaster

By Michael Heath

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Australian authorities urged communities threatened by bushfires to evacuate and said gale- force winds tonight may create conditions as dangerous as last month when blazes swept through Victoria killing 210 people.

Gusts of as much as 150 kilometers (93 miles) an hour could send fires racing across containment lines, emergency officials in the state of Victoria said. Four major blazes are burning out of control northeast and southeast of the state capital, Melbourne.

“Wind and fire are a horrible combination,” state Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin said on Radio 3AW today. The “massive windstorm” may blow trees onto power lines and people should evacuate now unless they plan to defend their homes, he said.

The Feb. 7 bushfire disaster, now known as Black Saturday, was driven by winds as strong as 125 kilometers per hour and preceded by two weeks of record high temperatures that reached 48 degrees in some parts of the southeastern state. The firestorm razed about 2,000 homes and destroyed 450,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) of land.

Winds from tonight and during the next two days are expected to be stronger than Black Saturday, though temperatures are forecast to be in the mid-30s, said Kevin Monk of the Country Fire Authority.

The bush is so dry that “once a fire gets going it will just race through,” Monk said by telephone today. Emergency personnel have spent the past week bulldozing away scrub and forest to strengthen containment lines, he said.

The state is in the midst of a 12-year drought and Melbourne experienced its driest start to the year since records began in the 1850s, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

A total fire ban has been declared for Victoria and more than 3,000 firefighters are battling the four main bushfires.

Fear, Panic

“Nighttime is going to be a danger time, the wind is going to blow very very hard and some of those communities that are not too far away from the fires that are burning need to be on a high alert,” Esplin said.

Fires that occur at night cause the most confusion, fear and panic, he said.

The strong winds tomorrow are forecast to switch direction later in the day as a cool change comes through, with swirling winds complicating the fight against the fires, the CFA said.

Parents were warned that schools and childcare centers may be closed tomorrow and the day after, and there may be widespread cancellations of school buses.

The Feb. 7 disaster razed towns including Kinglake and Marysville, located northeast of Melbourne, and police are investigating arson as the cause of several of the blazes. A man was charged Feb. 13 with starting fires that killed at least 21 people near the town of Churchill, southeast of Melbourne.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net.