Australians flee bushfires, lose homes to flames on Christmas Day

It’s hoped morning rain will provide the relief to control destructive fires on Victoria’s surf coast.

PHOTO: The fire burning along the Great Ocean Road on Christmas night.

Raging bushfire destroyed 53 houses and scorched about 2,000 hectares of land along the Great Ocean Road, Australia’s southeastern coast, on Christmas Day.

The blaze was about six to seven kilometres to the southwest of the popular tourist town by about 8am on Saturday.

“We’ve still got Christmas presents sitting under the tree – we’re hoping they’re still there when we get back”, Patrick Hilditch, who left his Kennett River holiday home with his family, told the Herald Sun.

“We don’t want to hear of injuries”.

Mr Lapsley said people returning to and visiting the area needed to be vigilant.

The need to maintain an evacuation warning for Lorne and surrounding communities would be reassessed after daylight, he said. Fortunately steady rain has eased the forward spread, of the fire, but it remains within 10 kilometres of Lorne.

Incident controller Mark Gunning said fire crews will be challenged by an expected wind change, which will push the fire in a northeasterly direction towards Lorne, which is about two hours from Melbourne.

About 1600 residents and holiday-makers evacuated Lorne yesterday afternoon.

The Bureau of Meteorology said the low-pressure system, which had been forecast to move southeast and form into a cyclone over the Gulf of Carpentaria, had instead looped back to settle over the Top End.

“Things are unstable, things are unsettling as well, there is a real sense of concern in those local communities”.

Victorian emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley said Separation Creek had been evacuated and that the blaze had now reached houses in the area. “It’s a lightning strike that started just under a week ago, and it’s in exactly the wrong spot to have a fire”, he said.

A cool change from South Australia is bringing strong winds which is expected to make the situation worse, but rain is expected overnight.

The chance for residents in those towns to evauate has now passed, with the Country Fire Authority (CFA) telling people to seek shelter from the fire and protect themselves.