Bushfires in Parts of Southeast Australia Amid Spring Heatwave

A bushfire in Australia’s Victoria state more than trebled overnight and authorities urged residents in a remote part of Tasmania state to evacuate as a spring heatwave fanned fires across the country’s southeast.
Around 17,000 hectares (66 square miles) were ablaze on Tuesday in the eastern part of Victoria state’s Gippsland region after high winds spread fires overnight, according to state fire authorities, who had deployed some 650 firefighters.
Across the Bass Strait in Tasmania state, residents on the northern edge of Flinders Island were told to evacuate from an out of control bushfire.
Fires are being stoked by hot, dry winds across southeast as the country experiences an unseasonably hot spring.