Australia warned as wildfire threat becomes deadly

The threat of wildfires in southern Australia is far from over, warns officials. Photo / AP

MELBOURNE, Australia - Hundreds of schools were ordered closed and millions of residents warned by mobile phone message yesterday that conditions in wildfire-scarred southern Australia could become deadly again.

Forecasts of powerful winds in Victoria state on Monday night and rising temperatures predicted for Tuesday triggered fears of a repeat of the fires that roared across the state on Feb. 7, killing more than 210 people.

"This is not a case of crying wolf. This is the case of a very genuine concern about the weather," Victoria's Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin told reporters.

Up to 5,000 firefighters backed by hundreds of trucks and water-dumping helicopters have been deployed in Victoria as forecasters said winds in the state's west would start gusting up to 150 kilometres per hour overnight and temperatures would hit the mid-30s.

The dangerous conditions would continue for up to 48 hours, officials said.

On Feb. 7, hundreds of fires scorched more than 3,900 square kilometres of forest and farmland in Victoria, razing more than 1,800 homes in the country's' worst wildfire disaster.

Several large fires that have raged for weeks were still burning yesterday, though they were within firebreaks and have not threatened homes for days.

Officials ordered more than 300 government schools and 250 childcare centres in Victoria to be closed today, as well as 30 national parks where fires could spring up.

Victoria police sent mobile phone messages to some five million people who subscribe to a warning service.

"If these fires get away tomorrow, you will see them race up hills at literally 50-100 kilometres an hour and that's why it's such a dangerous, dangerous day," Victorian Premier John Brumby said.

Officials have urged residents to decide either to leave their homes before fire threatens or to prepare themselves to fight the fires.

- AP