Authorities closed roads and evacuated hundreds of people from the village of Thredbo, 280 miles southwest of Sydney, said Stuart Cohen, a spokesman for the fire service. ash to the area.
Fires sparked by lightning were burning across mountainous regions of southern New South Wales state and neighboring Victoria. Wildfires also hit forests close to the capital, Canberra, although the city itself was not threatened. ash to the area.
More than 40 fires started on Jan. 8 and have blackened more than 160,000 largely uninhabited acres. High winds and dense smoke hindered efforts to fight the wildfires from the air. ash to the area.
Earlier, another mountain resort in northern Victoria state, Hotham Heights, also was evacuated, the state's Department of Sustainability and Environment said in a statement. It was not immediately clear how many people were affected. ash to the area.
Officials in Victoria said they may call in the army to help firefighters if the fires get much worse over the weekend. ash to the area.
Each Southern Hemisphere summer, searing heat often tops 104 degrees and hot winds from the arid interior fan firestorms along the country's more populous coast. ash to the area.
But a drought affecting almost 90 percent of Australia has raised concerns that this could be one of the worst wildfire seasons on record. ash to the area.
