Residents warned to ‘leave and live’ as wildfires rage in Australia

Skies over south-eastern Australia darkened with huge plumes of smoke and lightning storms after an epic heatwave, with raging wildfires claiming one life and residents warned to “leave and live”.

A cool change began sweeping the states of South Australia and Victoria as evening fell, bringing much-needed relief to millions of residents who have sweltered through up to five days of scorching temperatures in excess of 40C.

The baking heat has triggered thousands of wildfires since shifting from the west coast on Monday, where it triggered an inferno that razed 56 homes and claimed one life.

Authorities were braced for horrific conditions as the cooling southerly change brought wind gusts of up to 120km/h, fanning scores of fires across the two states and hampering aerial firebombing operations.

A towering firestorm sent more than 100 people fleeing their homes in the Grampians National Park west of Melbourne, killing a woman at Roses Gap and prompting authorities to warn of further casualties.

“These fires will be very intense and erratic this afternoon,” Victoria state’s fire commissioner Craig Lapsley told reporters.

“There is a fair chance of losing property and even, if people are caught in the wrong space, life could be lost.”

In the Grampians, people started evacuating the holiday town of Halls Gap after seeing a “big red glow on top of the mountain”, said Rohan McDonald, owner of the Halls Gap Lakeside Tourist Park.

“We are covered in smoke, there is a massive plume that looks like an atomic bomb has gone off over the top of the mountain,” he said.

Lapsley said the out-of-control blaze, which has already ripped through more than 21,500 hectares and was just 2km from Halls Gap last night, was running so hot it was “creating its own weather”.

The convection column — a plume of hot gases, smoke, ash, and other debris created by the fire — was causing lightning strikes which were starting other blazes, he added.

The smoke was so thick that witnesses said it was like fog.

Lapsley said the four-day heatwave in Melbourne had brought “the same if not worse conditions” than those that had preceded the so-called Black Saturday wildfires in 2009 which had claimed 173 lives.