Wildfire guts dozens of houses in Australia

Wye River locals comfort each other at the Apollo Bay Relief Centre.

A CHRISTMAS Day bushfire has destroyed dozens of homes along the Great Ocean Road on Victoria’s south-west coast, and is still burning out of control.

The water tanks at Tom Jacobs’ Separation Creek home were destroyed by fire.

West said some light and patchy rain had started to fall and more was expected across the fire ground through Saturday.

It was the worst Christmas present ever – an out-of-control bushfire threatening beachside towns in Victoria and forcing many to evacuate before they could even sit down to family lunch.

A recommendation to evacuate Lorne and Allenvale is no longer current and the alert for those areas has been downgraded to watch and act.

Police began door-knocking houses about midday on Christmas Day, implementing a fire plan authorities had in place for several days.

The blaze has razed at least 53 homes in the nearby townships of Wye River and Separation Creek.

‘The weather will be more predictable tomorrow, and hopefully with some rain overnight, conditions should be much easier than Friday for firefighters, ‘ he said.

“These communities have not been impacted by fire”.

The Great Ocean Road is closed between Torquay and Skenes Creek.

Government grants of $A1300 will be made available to those who have lost their homes or are unable to return.

There were no immediate reports of deaths in the fires.

Temperatures hit 35C yesterday, while strong winds were making firefighting efforts hard.

Lapsley warned the fire, which is not particularly large at 2,200 hectares, had the potential to flare up again in the coming week.

The road to Lorne is reopen.

The fire will also look much closer in the dark, Mr Lapsley says, making for a “very scary sight”.

On Saturday night he tweeted: “Will confirm by sight tomorrow but told our house at Wye is gone”.

Victoria state in Australia is suffering raging bushfires that have already claimed over 100 homes in one of the country’s famous tourist areas.

The fire at Wye River.