Properties lost in Victoria’s bushfire, emergency warnings for Beaufort, Raglan and Elmhurst
Emergency crews are continuing to battle a large bushfire in Victoria’s west with authorities urging nearby residents to leave immediately. It follows a long night at evacuation centres in the area for displaced residents.
Transcript
00:00 The message from fire authorities last night was this is going to get worse before it gets
00:06 better and that's because a south-westerly wind change arrived last night, essentially
00:10 turning the flank of the fire into the fire front, putting more communities at risk.
00:16 This is one of three relief centres set up to deal with residents that have nowhere else
00:20 to go.
00:21 About 20 people stayed inside the football club rooms last night, but many more stayed
00:26 in their cars along with their pets.
00:28 So I've got my chooks and rabbits.
00:33 A couple of rabbits in there, two rabbits in that one and the four chooks.
00:43 Now the conditions here this morning are actually quite cool, about 20 degrees below what we
00:48 saw yesterday afternoon when this fire really took hold and sent those evacuation warnings
00:54 out.
00:55 Of course, the wind is still the main concern for firefighters today.
00:59 It's a south-westerly wind, as I said, pushing this fire in a north-easterly direction, putting
01:03 as many as 30 communities at risk.
01:06 And so residents here are waiting for news on not only whether their properties are OK,
01:12 but also when they can get back home.
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