Fire danger risk could reach catastrophic levels in Victoria, Australia — Still burning after five days, bushfire over 19,500 hectares destroys homes, sheds, livestock, and farming equipment

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1. Excerpts:

   *The Bayindeen fire has burnt more than 19,500 hectares, destroying three homes north of Beaufort and another six near Raglan.*

   *The blaze has also claimed sheds, livestock and farming equipment.*

   *About 600 firefighters are working to suppress the fire, which has been burning since Thursday last week.*

   *On Sunday afternoon, about 200 people gathered in Beaufort for a community meeting about the fires.*

   *Among them was Sandy Little, a wool farmer from Raglan who has been in the Country Fire Authority (CFA) for most of his life.*

   *He said the fire was like nothing he had seen before. “It’s one of the worst, fastest-moving fires I’ve seen,” he said.*

    

   *Ballarat CFA incident controller Jon Rofe told community members gathered to be prepared for the coming week.*

   *Ahead of Wednesday, Rofe said the strategy was to actively suppress the blaze, using an earth trail around the fire to create a break in the fuel and slow it down.*

   *Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Angus Hines did not rule out the fire risk reaching catastrophic levels for parts of Victoria.*

   *”If we do see those hot, dry, and windy conditions sharpen up even further, we could see very high and extreme fire dangers, or possibly a repeat of catastrophic fire danger for parts of the state,” he said.*

   *The forecast will be reassessed in the coming days.*

2. Hopefully it doesn’t blow up like in 2020. Australia lost about 2 million hectares in those bushfires.