Bushfire threat forces evacuation of Australian town

Sydney: Residents of a town in the Australian state of Queensland have been evacuated due to a threat posed by a fast-moving bushfire.

Queensland Police on Tuesday night declared an emergency situation for the town of Dirranbandi, 500 km southwest of the state capital of Brisbane, and ordered the approximately 600 residents of the town to leave immediately at 8 p.m. local time.

As of Wednesday morning, a "Watch and Act" warning remained in place and it was not safe for the residents to return to the town, Xinhua news agency reported.

The evacuation was ordered on Tuesday as two bushfires burning to the southeast and northeast of the town were moving north.

An evacuation centre was set up 80 km north of Dirranbandi and evacuees were told to take bedding and essential items.

"This is a very extraordinary circumstance and not something that we would normally be experiencing," Samantha O'Toole, the local mayor, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday night.

Fire crews from Queensland and the neighbouring state of New South Wales, including aerial water-bombing crews, fought the fires through the night and were expected to return on Wednesday.

The Queensland Fire Department said that crews would work to establish a state of containment.

Power lines in the area were down and O'Toole said that Dirranbandi has been without telecommunications since 1 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

The maximum temperature in Dirranbandi was forecast to reach 42 degrees Celsius on Wednesday as a heatwave hit the state.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued an official heatwave warning for much of Queensland, with temperatures up to 10 degrees higher than the long-term November average.