Christmas wildfire destroys more than 100 homes in Australia

Fire trucks heading towards Lorne. However, the risk was still present.

“We don’t believe we will see major property losses in Lorne, however we only need a gust of wind to change that”.

“The fire is moving in that direction”, he said.

A recommendation to evacuate Lorne and Allenvale is no longer current and the alert for those areas has been downgraded to watch and act.

Victoria is one of the most fire-prone regions in the world.

“We are working with the CFA, fire authorities and emergency services to stay across the current situation”.

Hundreds of firefighters spent Christmas battling the blaze, which was triggered by a lightning strike.

The blaze has so far claimed 53 homes and forced residents of five surrounding towns to evacuate. “That is, they walked away from the fire”.

But authorities have asked people to avoid travelling along the Great Ocean Road this weekend if possible.

Walking tracks in the nearby Great Otway National Park have been closed to the public as the fires reached the park itself.

Clouds over Wye River and Separation Creek by the Great Ocean Road. It is too late to leave.

The fires sent smoke billowing out across the ocean.

“It’s a fire we’ll have to work with during the summer”.

“The fire will stand out in the darkness and look like it’s right on top of you”, he said. Firefighting aircraft would rejoin the fight at dawn.

Jacobs said he was also concerned for his family’s property, which is 200 metres from the beach.

“We will be back into hot, windy weather in January without a doubt”.

“We’re just anxious we’re going to lose our home and for everyone there”. “People can now return to the area but remain vigilent”, the CFA says.

Both towns which are southwest of Melbourne, were evacuated on Friday after.

“They’ve been planning for an event like this for a very long time”.

The bushfires raged out of control overnight at Wye River.

Blazes near Ballarat and Wodonga destroyed 18 houses in the past week as Victoria deals with extreme temperatures and strong winds.

A handout picture made available on 26 December 2015 shows a bushfire at Wye River near Lorne, south of Melbourne, Australia, 25 December 2015.

Mr Andrews said there would be a big rebuilding process in the towns.

“At the moment things are looking a lot more promising than they did earlier yesterday afternoon”.

“The mood down here is pretty calm”, he said. “We are expecting that we will have a significantly increased figure from that”.

The Red Cross was urging people affected by the fire to join its online registration service.

A midday meeting with emergency services has finished and festival organisers say they’ll make a decision later on Saturday.