A backburning operation intended to contain a massive wildfire in eastern Australia sparked out of control, damaging dozens of buildings and cutting off major roads, authorities said, warning an impending heatwave may overwrite temperature records.
The accident took place about 155 miles northwest of Sydney, where firefighters were trying to stop a blaze of some 934,000 acres, reaching communities by carrying out pre-emptive controlled burning.
Wildfires have killed at least four people, destroyed more than 680 homes and burned nearly 3 million acres of bushland across eastern Australia since the start of November.
The Bureau of Meteorology meanwhile warned of “severe to extreme heatwave conditions” in the inland parts of the country’s south-east over the next few days, with average temperatures expected to approach or exceed a national average record of 40.3 degrees celsius or 105.4 degrees Fahrenheit.