Nine houses lost in Victoria bushfires

MELBOURNE: Nine homes have been destroyed and several buildings damaged by an intense Victorian bushfire which is one of more than 40 blazes burning across the state.

Another house was damaged and up to 23 outbuildings razed by the Bunyip State Park bushfire, east of Melbourne, Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said yesterday.

‘‘I really feel for that community as a whole . . . in particular those people who have been contacted in relation to the loss of their home,’’ Mr Crisp said.

Emergency warnings were issued yesterday for the towns of Dargo and Licola east Melbourne, as uncontrolled flames approached homes, he said.

More than 40,000ha has been burned across the state by fires since Friday. Two homes were lost at the weekend in a fire at Yinnar South, further southeast of Melbourne.

While the work of firefighters has been commended by authorities and parts of the community, others have claimed not enough was done to save homes.

But Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said firefighters from all agencies had the Government’s 100% support for their actions.

The lack of recent backburning has also been a sore point, but Premier Daniel Andrews said the weekend fires were so fierce, previous backburns had little effect. — AAP