{"id":403759,"date":"2026-01-10T08:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T08:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/403759\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T08:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T08:02:17","slug":"australia-declares-state-of-disaster-as-bushfires-rip-through-victoria-leave-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/403759\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia declares state of disaster as bushfires rip through Victoria: \u2018leave, go\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Authorities in <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/australia?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Australia<\/a> declared a state of disaster on Saturday after bushfires destroyed houses and razed vast belts of forest in the country\u2019s southeast.Temperatures soared past 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) as a heatwave blanketed the state of Victoria this week, with hot winds fanning some of the most dangerous fire weather since the \u201cBlack Summer\u201d bushfires <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/week-asia\/explained\/article\/3044372\/australias-bush-fires-and-link-climate-change-explained?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">of 2019 to 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">One of the most destructive bushfires ripped through almost 150,000 hectares (370,000 acres) near Longwood, a region cloaked in native forests.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A property destroyed by a bushfire in Longwood, Victoria, Australia on Friday. Photo: AAP\/Reuters\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/68dd9099-048c-4de8-aae1-f0e4218f1d7a_ee0f0924.jpg\" title=\"A property destroyed by a bushfire in Longwood, Victoria, Australia on Friday. Photo: AAP\/Reuters\"\/>A property destroyed by a bushfire in Longwood, Victoria, Australia on Friday. Photo: AAP\/Reuters<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">State Premier Jacinta Allan on Saturday declared a state of disaster, giving fire crews emergency powers to force evacuations.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cIt\u2019s all about one thing: protecting Victorian lives,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it sends one clear message: if you have been told to leave, go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Three people missing inside one of the state\u2019s most dangerous fire grounds had been found, Allan said.<\/p>\n<p>It sends one clear message: if you have been told to leave, goVictoria State Premier Jacinta Allan<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch said at least 130 structures had been destroyed across the state, a figure that includes houses, sheds and other buildings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Authorities in Australia declared a state of disaster on Saturday after bushfires destroyed houses and razed vast belts&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2655,64,63,214344,214345,16287,213873,44,1124,660,213874],"class_list":["post-403759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-abc","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-black-summer-bushfires","tag-emergency-management-commissioner-tim-wiebusch","tag-jacinta-allan","tag-longwood","tag-news","tag-south-australia","tag-victoria","tag-walwa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}