Overview
- Two large out-of-control blazes are driving the emergency, with the Longwood fire scorching more than 35,000 hectares and the Walwa–Mount Lawson fire burning over 17,000 hectares and generating a pyrocumulonimbus storm.
- Authorities report multiple property losses, including in Ruffy, and say three people — including a child — are unaccounted for after sheltering in Longwood East.
- Statewide measures include a total fire ban, closures of about 450 schools and kindergartens, evacuations across dozens of towns, and orders for campers to leave public lands and popular river and park areas.
- Power outages have hit thousands of customers, a section of the Hume Highway is closed near the Longwood fire, and strong winds may ground firefighting aircraft during peak conditions.
- Forecasters expect the peak danger to ease across Victoria and South Australia over the weekend as a cool change arrives, with the heat shifting into New South Wales where Sydney could reach 42C on Saturday.