Australian towns menaced as blazes hit four states

Australia yesterday saw a return to the high temperatures and bushfires of the New Year when Sydney suburbs burned. Picture / Reuters

SYDNEY - Parts of Victoria and Tasmania were ablaze last night and NSW and South Australia were under threat as bushfires returned to southeastern Australia.

Temperatures soared during the day and humidity was low.

In Victoria, 12 fires were burning across the state, the largest destroying more than 4200ha of bushland in Gippsland and moving east towards the small township of Moondarra.

Residents of towns under threat from bushfires in the eastern Gippsland region had to decide whether to stay or leave before the towns were closed off last night.

Firefighters were bracing for the worst possible conditions, with temperatures of more than 40C predicted across the state and a wind change expected to push the fires to the northeast.

Department of Sustainability and Environment Gippsland region spokeswoman Rachel Dawkins said police intended to close the only road still open into the towns of Erica, Rawson, Walhalla and Moondarra.

The towns were under threat from a fire that continued to rage in the nearby Moondarra State Park and a wind change was set to increase their risk.

Twenty homes set in bush in the Moondarra area, 2.5km from the fire front, were considered the most at risk.

Firefighters were also battling a blaze at Mt Lubra, in the Grampians National Park.

"All roads into the Grampians National Park have been closed and we're asking visitors to stay away," said emergency communications centre manager Craig Ferguson.

In Yallaka, in the state's far east, a fire that has burned more than 4100ha was contained yesterday but remained a concern.

A fire at Bessiebelle in the southwest coast area has also been contained after burning 1470ha.

In Tasmania, more than 20 bushfires are burning across the state.

Tasmania Fire Service fire management acting district officer Danny Reid said two fires, at Trial Harbour near Zeehan, on the state's central west coast, and at White Beach in the state's southeast, were of greatest concern.

Other fires were burning in remote areas and were not a threat to properties or homes, he said.

In South Australia, the Country Fire Service has imposed total fire bans along the state's west coast, the lower and eastern Eyre Peninsula, and the Flinders region.

Total fire bans in NSW take in that state's southern Riverina, northern Riverina, and southwest areas.