Victorian properties feared lost as bushfires, heatwave persist
Multiple properties are feared lost to an out-of-control bushfire in central Victoria, as Australia's first heatwave of the year continued to bring high temperatures across the country.
Multiple properties are feared lost to an out-of-control bushfire in central Victoria, as Australia's first heatwave of the year continues to bring high temperatures across the country.
Firefighters are working to contain two bushfires in Victoria, with dozens of towns ordered to evacuate ahead of predicted "catastrophic" conditions on Friday.
An out-of-control bushfire in central Victoria, near Longwood, has burned through 28,000 hectares, with towns south and east of the fire told to leave.
Properties are feared lost due to the Longwood fire. (ABC News)
The ABC has been told that a residential property in Ruffy, east of Seymour, and within the large Longwood fire, has been destroyed by fire.
Homeowner Rebekah Johnston-Smith says her property on Nolans Road, the main road in the small township, has burnt down.
She said she was evacuated with her family on Wednesday night, but close relatives who lived nearby told her the house had burned down.
"It's a really huge area that's been impacted," she said.
"Ruffy is a really picturesque spot [and] it's wild, it's gone."
Ruffy is located in the Strathbogie Ranges and has a population of about 164, according to the 2021 census.
The Longwood fire has burned since Wednesday. (Supplied: VicEmergency)
There are reports of other property losses, but State Agency Commander David Nugent said he was not in a position to confirm any.
"When I look at the movement of the fires without knowing the details, and I'm not in a position to tell you exactly what's happened on the ground there.
"But the details we can see here show the fire has moved in that area through that Ruffy community," he said.
Bushfire generates a weather system
Emergency warnings are also in place for a bushfire burning in north-east Victoria, near Walwa.
The fire had burned through 4,500 hectares of land as of Thursday afternoon, and was so fierce it generated its own weather system, including a substantial pyrocumulonimbus cloud with lightning and thunder.
Pyrocumulonimbus clouds are fire-fuelled thunderstorms, which form partly due to the heat from a bushfire, causing the air above the blaze to rise.
Dozens of towns to the south and east of the fire have been ordered to evacuate, while smoke from the blaze has moved north across the state's border towards Canberra.