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Bushfires fanned by strong winds were advancing on several towns and burning uncontrolled through large areas of southeast Australia yesterday.
Firefighters battled to save homes as winds drove a large blaze into the Tasmanian hamlet of Cornwall.
"They just stood in the flames with hoses and not a lot more," ABC radio reported.
At the nearby seaside community of Four Mile Creek, residents fled to the beach after what some described as "a fireball" jumped containment lines and raced towards them.
Smoke was so thick drivers could not see their car bonnets, and the energy draw of the huge firestorm turned the wind into a roaring force.
Fire Service officers had marked some homes in Four Mile Creek with red tape, designating them as "indefensible" in a fire front because homeowners had not cleared trees and surrounding scrub.
Late in the afternoon, a wind change turned the fire back on itself and light rain was reported.
Houses in Cornwall and nearby St Marys were also red-taped, as an expected late wind change fanned flames ravaging nearby bushland.
"If a property has trees right up to the back door then it's going to put lives at risk and we have to declare those houses as undefendable," said Tasmanian Fire Service spokesman Michael Watkins.
The St Marys blaze engulfed 14 houses in the coastal tourist town of Scamander on Monday and has since threatened three more rural communities, driven by winds gusting at 50km/h.
Most of the homes identified as at risk were on farms and isolated coastal properties surrounded by thick scrubland.
Pam Bretz, owner of the Mount Elephant Pancake Barn at Gray, had buckets at the ready after fire crews encouraged her family to stay and protect their well-cleared property. "They told us we'd be mad to leave," Ms Bretz said. "I just feel very tense. When you've done everything, what else can you do?"
In Victoria, more than 4000 firefighters, including reinforcements flown from New Zealand, were battling 11 blazes sparked by lightning strikes that have burned 420,000ha of rugged mountain bushland and threaten several towns.
Residents of Gippsland were warned it was too late to leave their homes as a deliberately lit inferno advanced. A Country Fire Authority spokeswoman said flames were expected to menace several small settlements.
"Residents are advised that it is too late to leave the area and to stay tuned to the local radio," she said.
Last night erratic winds finally pushed the Gippsland inferno into the township of Licola and firefighters warned homes would be lost.
As temperatures soared again after two days of relatively cool conditions, authorities were considering calling for reinforcements from the United States.
Firefighters were scrambling to save the historic Mt Buffalo Chalet in north-east Victoria as strong northerly winds pushed a blaze towards the 96-year-old building.
The inferno claimed another ski resort on Mt Buffalo on Tuesday.
Fire crews in New South Wales fought to control a fire in pine forests to the southwest of Canberra.
Smaller fires were also burning in South Australia.
- REUTERS
