Firefighters throughout southeastern Australia were on high alert on today, battling a series of minor blazes amid soaring temperatures and high winds that threatened potentially dangerous bushfires.
A fire near the town of Stawell in western Victoria state destroyed two houses and others were at risk, authorities said, while small blazes in Victoria, South Australia and the most populous state of New South Wales were mainly contained.
Gusting hot winds took the temperature to more than 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) by late afternoon in Melbourne, and temperatures above 43 degrees and hot winds were forecast for much of New South Wales tomorrow.
Thousands of firefighters were on standby around the country, as about 1,200 worked on more than 25 fires in New South Wales alone.
In Victoria, authorities said the fire near Stawell had burnt out 800 hectares (2,000 acres) of state forest and remained out of control by early evening. Another fire in the state's northeast could also threaten homes, they said.
A ban on lighting fires in the open is in place across New South Wales and much of Victoria and South Australia until midnight on Sunday.
In January 2004, Australia's deadliest bushfires in 22 years killed nine people and injured dozens in South Australia. The blazes were the worst since bushfires claimed 75 lives in South Australia and Victoria in 1983.
In 2003, bushfires destroyed a slice of Australia nearly three times the size of Britain, fuelled by one of the worst droughts in a century. Four people were killed and 530 homes destroyed when fire swept through the capital, Canberra.
In 2002 and 1994, devastating bushfires destroyed scores of homes in Australia's biggest city, Sydney.