Canberra-Sana
Australia's forest fires have turned into a huge uncontrolled blaze spreading over large areas north of Sydney, Australian authorities said today.
"More than eight fires have merged into a massive fire that devours 300,000 hectares in an area of about 60 kilometers, about an hour from Sydney," Rob Rogers, a fire official in the state of New South Wales, told AFP.
Rogers pointed to the inability of firefighters to contain the fire due to the extent of the scope and limited their role to organize the evacuation of residents and try to protect homes in the hope of ending the drought and winds that contribute to fuel the fires.
At the WalkAbout Wildlife Park near Sydney, about 300 animals were evacuated, including Australian lizards, dogs, peacocks and koala.
Australia is currently facing one of the worst seasons of forest fires while parts of it suffer the worst droughts.
Three people died in forest fires in New South Wales, which was hardest hit by fires along the east coast last month, which destroyed hundreds of homes and burned more than 1 million hectares of land. Hard weather is expected to reign in Queensland and New South Wales weekend with high temperature and wind.
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