Australia Braces for Worsening Bushfires as National Park Burns

Fire restrictions are in place across the Australian state of Victoria as one of its most popular national parks burns and officials warn of potentially “catastrophic” conditions in some areas over Christmas.

A large bushfire near the scenic Grampians National Park, about 3 hours drive northwest of Melbourne, is still burning out of control and has destroyed about 43,000 hectares, authorities said in a televised briefing Monday afternoon. Temperatures in the region are forecast to rise in coming days.

“We have some very difficult weather conditions on Thursday and Friday,” Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner Rick Nugent told the briefing, saying temperatures in the state’s north could rise as high as 42C (107.6F), along with potential strong winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour.

Fire restrictions are now in place across Victoria with the weather heating up for Christmas and Boxing Day with Extreme fire dangers predicted and the potential for further escalation to Catastrophic across parts of the state. 🗞️ https://t.co/I4lXL2fePv pic.twitter.com/rsfQ3JQGZF

— cfa_updates (@CFA_Updates) December 23, 2024

The Grampians park is a popular tourist destination known for its spectacular mountain range and straddles the sprawling Wimmera region. The Bureau of Meteorology predicts a “catastrophic” fire day for the region on Boxing Day, according to a statement from the Country Fire Authority on Monday.

Residents who have already evacuated from towns in the area, including the tourist hotspot of Halls Gap, have been warned it’s still not safe to return.

“The advice is very clear,” Deputy Premier of Victoria Ben Carroll said in the briefing. “This is the beginning of what will be a long, hot and dangerous bushfire season.”

Victoria has received additional resources from the states of Tasmania, Queensland and New South Wales, including 80 specialist firefighters and about 70 aircraft, to battle the Grampians blaze, Nugent said.

Warnings have also been issued for two other smaller fires that are burning out of control in other parts of Victoria.

Australia has a troubled history with bushfires. Between July 2019 and March 2020, the so-called Black Summer fires raged across the nation’s east, killing 33 people and consuming 24 million hectares of land — an area roughly equivalent to half of California.

Photograph: Smoke from a bushfire in the Grampians shrouds the city of Melbourne on Dec. 20, 2024. Photo credit: Chris Putnam/Future Publishing/Getty Images