Fast-moving fires torch national parks in southeast Australia

Firefighters were desperately trying to stop a cluster of fast-moving blazes in southeast Australia on Tuesday, as thousands of acres of national park burned and a farming community was forced to evacuate.

Lightning strikes on Monday evening ignited several fires in the Grampians National Park, a forested mountain range about 300 kilometres (186 miles) west of Victoria's state capital Melbourne.

A separate fast-moving fire in Little Desert National Park in the west of the state has torn through almost 65,000 hectares (160,000 acres) in less than 24 hours, emergency services said, scorching an area almost as large as Singapore.

That fire had forced the evacuation of rural Dimboola before threat levels were downgraded on Tuesday afternoon.

"I'm incredibly thankful that no lives have been lost and we have no reports of injury either," emergency management commissioner Rick Nugent told reporters.

Chris Hardman from Forest Fire Management Victoria warned that weather conditions over the next few days are increasing the possibility the fires will spread.

"Right now firefighters are planning to do everything in their powers to protect communities," he said.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Kevin Parkyn said stifling heatwave conditions would settle over parts of Victoria on Saturday, escalating fire risks.

"When we look at the next seven to 10 days the main message is that there will be a hot dome over Victoria.

"Once we get into the weekend don't be surprised if we see heatwave conditions unfold across the state, and continue to intensify into next week.

"The landscape is dry, and if we continue to see these hot conditions, it will continue to dry the landscape out further."

Hotter temperatures are fueling increasingly severe natural disasters across Australia, researchers have found.

Scientists have documented a marked increase in extreme fire weather across the country since the 1950s.

The unprecedented "Black Summer" bushfires of 2019-2020 killed 33 people and millions of animals, razed vast tracts of forest and blanketed major cities in thick smoke.

© Agence France-Presse