SYDNEY, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- An emergency warning has been issued for a bushfire burning west of Melbourne in Australia's second-most populous state.
Emergency services on Monday evening urged residents of the small towns of Creswick and Dean, approximately 100 km west of Melbourne, to immediately evacuate the area due to the threat posed by an out-of-control bushfire.
"Leaving immediately is the safest option, before conditions become too dangerous. Emergency services may not be able to help you if you decide to stay," the alert said.
Nearly 60 vehicles and 250 firefighters from the Country Fire Authority in the state of Victoria were deployed to the fire, which started in a state forest at about 5 p.m. local time.
Luke Hegarty from the state control center told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that people in the area need to remain on high alert.
He said that conditions are expected to change and get worse very quickly.
The fire ignited as temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius across Victoria on Monday as much of Australia was hit by a heatwave.
The Bureau of Meteorology reported a maximum temperature of 47.1 degrees Celsius in the town of Walpeup, 400 km northwest of Melbourne, marking Victoria's highest December temperature since 2019.
Parts of Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and the Northern Territory all recorded maximum temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius on Monday.
In Melbourne, the temperature hit 30 degrees Celsius shortly after 9 a.m. and exceeded 40 degrees Celsius in the afternoon.
Conditions in the city were forecast to ease with an evening cool change. ■
