Victoria is bracing for one of the worst bushfire days in recent years
Victoria is bracing for one of its worst bushfire days in the recent years, with extremely hot and windy conditions expected tomorrow. Half the state will be at extreme fire danger with parts of the north west facing catastrophic fire conditions.
Category
đź“ş
TVTranscript
00:00 Cheyenne Talbot has lived in Beaufort all her life, but today she packed up and left
00:06 town.
00:07 "A bit stressed, yeah, since getting the warning saying that they want us to leave
00:11 either tonight or tomorrow."
00:13 The fire that threatened the town last week is still burning, with a perimeter more than
00:17 170 kilometres long.
00:22 Crews have spent days attacking it, from the ground and from the air, doing what they can
00:27 to prepare for tomorrow's hot and windy weather.
00:30 "We've worked hard on those containment lines.
00:32 We have hundreds of firefighters out, but we have to understand tomorrow's a really
00:36 high fire danger today."
00:38 Authorities have sent text messages to everyone in the area, advising people to leave for
00:43 safety as soon as they can.
00:45 "If you're not prepared, if you're not confident, might as well go and go somewhere safe."
00:50 Ian Clarke is staying in Beaufort.
00:52 He says he feels safe and is making preparations to attack any spot fires that threaten his
00:57 home.
00:58 "I'm going to fill the bath full of water, get some buckets, because generally you could
01:04 lose the water from the taps, so just be prepared."
01:07 His Beaufort neighbours attended a community meeting this afternoon, where they were told
01:11 tomorrow's threat is severe.
01:12 "It's about 50/50 speaking to people.
01:14 A lot of them are going to go to Ballarat or with relatives elsewhere, but others are
01:19 planning to stay."
01:20 The streets of Beaufort are lined with fire trucks, and one cafe owner has dished out
01:25 100 free coffees to thank them.
01:27 "That's the least I can do for the effort they are putting in to help the community
01:32 here."
01:33 In response to the bushfire emergency, Ballarat's Victoria Park has been transformed into a
01:38 base camp for firefighters, with more than 300 members from Victoria and New South Wales
01:44 set to call the site home.
01:46 The preparations are in place, but an anxious 24 hours lies ahead.
01:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]