The Telegraph :Thousands of firefighters in Australia are battling wildfires across the country’s south-east which have destroyed dozens of homes and set a coal mine alight.The worst of the fires spread in swirling winds across the state of Victoria, which faced its worst threat since the Black Saturday fires in February 2009 which killed 173 people.The fires, which include a blaze with a front more than 24 miles long, have spread across the state and reached the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city.Thousands of people were evacuated across the state, more than 30,000 residents spent the night without power and some rural train services were suspended. No lives have been reported lost but further losses of homes are expected. In Kilmore,a town about 35 miles north of Melbourne, residents said the damage was “horrendous”.”You could just see houses exploding, it was absolutely incredible,” a resident, Mark Schrimpton, told ABC after five houses on his street were destroyed.”It was just horrendous. You could see more smoke that flames at one stage.” Authorities said they had learnt the lessons from Black Saturday, when many residents in fire zones were caught with little warning and were confused as to whether to evacuate or stay and protect their homes.
