One person killed and 300 buildings damaged in Australian wildfires

One person has died and 300 homes and buildings have been destroyed as bushfires sweep across southeastern Australia.

Fires have raged in dozens of locations across the country for days, mostly in Victoria but also New South Wales, engulfing land almost twice the size of Greater London.

A state of emergency was declared in Victoria as thousands of firefighters and more than 70 aircraft battled the blaze. Residents in more than a dozen communities have been advised to leave their homes.

Authorities fear wildfires sparked by extremely hot, dry and windy conditions could burn for weeks.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said there were 30 fires burning across the state, 10 of which were of particular concern.

She said 350,000 hectares had burned across the province as of 8am local time (23:00 GMT on Saturday).

“We’re going to see fires continuing across the state for some time, so we’re not yet through the worst,” she told The Australian.

“There are currently ongoing fires threatening homes and property.”

Police said human remains were found in the village of Gobur, near the town of Longwood, about 110km north of the state capital Melbourne. The victim has not yet been identified.

Allan praised emergency services workers who worked to recover the body. “This is difficult, difficult work and it takes a heavy toll.”

“The Gobur community is grieving,” Allan said.

Bushfire smoke is affecting air quality in many areas across Victoria, including metropolitan Melbourne.

Authorities said the fires were the worst to hit southeastern Australia since 2019-2020 fires that destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people.

One of the worst hit was Harcourt, a small town in Victoria’s central highlands, where firefighter Tyrone Rice lost his home in the fire. He was fighting a forest fire when he realized his house was on fire.

“I felt like my guts were going to explode, but I’m not the first person to go through this and I won’t be the last,” he told Australian media.

The destruction at Harcourt was “appalling”, local fire chief Andrew Wilson said.

Australia’s 9 News reporter Jack Ward told the BBC World Service he had visited damaged areas in several cities across Western Australia. What he saw was “catastrophic,” he said, and in many places “all that was left of these houses was tin roofs lying on the ground.”