SYDNEY: About 100,000 people were urged to flee five Melbourne suburbs on Monday evening as Australia's spiralling bushfire crisis killed a volunteer firefighter battling a separate blaze in the countryside.
The crisis has focused attention on climate change - which scientists say is creating a longer and more intense bushfire season - and sparked street protests calling for immediate action to tackle global warming. Conditions worsened on Friday with high winds and temperatures soaring across the country - reaching 47 degrees Celsius in Western Australia and topping 40 degrees in every region - including the usually temperate island of Tasmania.
Some of the fires were burning so intensely that hundreds of firefighters were pulled back beyond a front estimated to stretch 1,000km. The Country Fire Service's Brenton Eden said it would be a"very dangerous" day for people in the state, with"dry" thunderstorms - which produce thunder and lightning but no rain - already sparking a number of fires, including an emergency-level blaze on Kangaroo Island."Winds are gusting and unfortunately this is a dry lightning front that is going to move rapidly across South Australia," he told national broadcaster ABC.
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