Residents flee as fresh blazes hit Melbourne

WITH terrifying memories of Australia’s deadliest wildfires still fresh, residents chose to flee rather than protect their homes yesterday when new blazes broke containment lines and threatened the fringes of the country’s second-largest city.

Many victims of the February 7 disaster that officials call “Black Saturday” died in their cars or in the open because police said they tried to escape too late. Since then, officials have urged residents to choose quickly: leave early when a blaze is near, or stay and fight.

One house was destroyed in the Melbourne suburb of Belgrave South before the fire threat eased later, but the panic showed how jittery Australians remained 16 days after the disaster killed at least 209 people. “I’m no hero — take the house,” one woman told the Australian Broadcasting Corp television as she prepared to leave Warburton, east of Melbourne.