More than 100 homes destroyed in Australian bushfires

Massive bushfires in southern Australia burned down more than a hundred homes on Christmas Day, and continued to rage out of control on Saturday (December 26). The flames, sparked by lightning and fanned by hot summer winds, have already devoured more than 2,000 hectares, and ripped through a stretch of coastline popular with tourists. Great Ocean Road, southwest of Melbourne, is known for its beautiful beaches and striking rock formations offshore. It was closed to traffic on Saturday, when this would typically be one of its busiest times of the year. Hundreds of firefighters spent Christmas Day battling the blaze, and one local resident described its aftermath as “apocalyptic”. However, no deaths or injuries were reported. Officials said cooler weather on Saturday eased the immediate threat from the blaze, but warned the fire could keep on burning for weeks. Rain helped but the #Lorne fire is not yet under control. 53 houses lost in Wye River & Separation Creek #VicFires pic.twitter.com/mBPJmJYbVm— CFA Updates (@CFA_Updates) December 25, 2015 (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));So glad we could help our furry friend :)Posted by Victoria Police on Saturday, December 26, 2015