Wildfires burn out of control near Australia’s national capital, Canberra, and across surrounding New South Wales state, with endangered residents warned to prepare to evacuate.
A helicopter drops water on a fire near Bumbalong, south of the Australian capital, Canberra, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. The threat is posed by a blaze on Canberra's southern fringe that has razed more than 21,500 hectares since it was sparked by heat from a military helicopter landing light on Monday, the Emergency Services Agency said.
The capital region declared a state of emergency on Friday because of a fire that by Saturday covered 35,800 hectares of forest and farmland south of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Emergency Services Agency Commissioner Georgeina Whelan said. The fires threaten Canberra’s southern suburbs and the nearby village of Tharwa, which has been cut off by road closures since Saturday morning.
The fire was downgraded from emergency level late Saturday to the second level on a three-tier scale of danger due to a fall in temperatures and winds. But several fires continued to burn at emergency levels in southeast New South Wales.
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