SYDNEY: Australian authorities declared a state of disaster on Saturday after bushfires destroyed houses and razed vast belts of forest in the country’s southeast.

Temperatures soared past 40C as a heatwave blanketed the state of Victoria this week, with hot winds fanning some of the most dangerous fire weather since the “Black Summer” bushfires of 2019-2020.

One of the most destructive bushfires ripped through almost 150,000 hectares (370,000 acres) near Longwood, a region cloaked in native forests.

State premier Jacinta Allan on Saturday declared a state of disaster, giving fire crews emergency powers to force evacuations. “It’s all about one thing: protecting Victorian lives,” she said.

PM warns of extreme and dangerous weather

“And it sends one clear message: if you have been told to leave, go.” Three people missing inside one of the state’s most dangerous fire grounds had been found, Allan said.

Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch said at least 130 structures had been destroyed across the state, a figure that includes houses, sheds and other buildings.

“We’ve seen significant livestock, cropping land and vineyards that have also been impacted or destroyed,” he told reporters. Wiebusch said 10 major fires were still burning despite conditions easing.

“Importantly, many of these major fires will continue to burn for days, if not weeks.

“We are expecting more fires today as a result of lightning that occurred throughout yesterday afternoon and overnight.” The worst blazes have largely been confined to sparsely populated rural areas where towns might number a few hundred people.

Photos taken this week showed the night sky glowing orange as the fire near Longwood ripped through bushland.

PM’s warning

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday the nation faced “extreme and dangerous” weather as a bushfire crisis gripped Victoria state, razing homes and burning vast swathes of bushland.

Authorities have said the fires, which took hold amid a heatwave and have been fanned by strong winds, are the worst to hit the state since the Black Summer blazes of 2019-2020 that destroyed an area the size of Turkiye and killed 33 people.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2026