Great Ocean Road fire: 53 homes lost

A Christmas Day bushfire has destroyed more than 100 homes in Australia’s Victoria state, officials say.

The fire began with a lightning strike on 19 December and has been fanned by strong winds and intense heat in recent days, burning across 2,200 hectares (5,437 acres) so far. Sky News Australia said that the blaze could continue into February 2016.

“This fire doesn’t go away”.

The fire has temporarily closed a section of the Great Ocean Road, which winds along Victoria’s coastline and past the region’s famed “Apostles” – a collection of giant limestone stacks that jut dramatically out of the sea.

Separation Creek residents were going on a bus tour of the area on Saturday and residents of Wye River were hoping to survey their properties on Sunday.

It was a traumatic Christmas for many people, with the entire town of Lorne forced to evacuate for Torquay, where more than 30 relief spent the night at a relief centre set up in the surf town.

The Great Ocean Road area has been declared a catastrophe, allowing the insurance industry to “escalate its response” to the fire crisis.

Rain overnight on Friday helped slow the fires but bad weather also hampered the fire-fighting effort by preventing the water-dropping aircraft from taking off. Numerous properties destroyed were holiday homes.

Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews said grants would be available to help those who had lost their homes.

“Within about three years they’ll be growing again at a similar rate to what they had been before the fire, but it will take about seven years or so for the canopies to reform”. We will support you to get through this hard time.

Authorities warned on Saturday that the fire risk in Victoria would continue over the next two months, as southern Australia bakes in summer heat.

“[It was] a unusual experience looking back across the bay at all of that column of smoke whilst we were trying to enjoy our Christmas”, he said.

The Twelve Apostles, one of the most famous sights along the Great Ocean Road, closed by emergency services.

Victoria endured devastating “Black Saturday” bushfires in 2009 that claimed the lives of 173 people.