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Thousands of people have fled to beaches on Australia ’s east coast to escape the wildfires tearing towards the coast.
Around 4,000 people have left their homes in Victoria and have been urged to move into the sea if the blazes around them continue to worsen.
Some have been forced to camp on wharves or have been rescued by boat after multiple fires surrounded the town of Mallacoota , cutting off-road access.
“Mallacoota is currently under attack,” Andrew Crisp, the state’s emergency commissioner said.
“It is pitch-black, it is quite scary,” he said. “The community right now is under threat but we will hold our line and they will be saved and protected.”
Show all 40 1 /40Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures A firefighter hosing down trees and flying embers in an effort to secure nearby houses from bushfires near the town of Nowra in the state of New South Wales on 31 December 2019
AFP via Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Smoke billows from a huge bushfire that has torched over 200,000 acres of land in East Gipplsand, Victoria on 2 January
EPA
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Residents look on as flames tear through bushland in Lake Tabouriee, Australia on 4 January on 4 January
Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Boats are pulled ashore as smoke and wildfires rage behind Lake Conjola on 2 January
Robert Oerlemans via AP
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures A firefighting helicopter tackles a bushfire in East Gippsland, Victoria on 31 December
EPA
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures A firefighter gives water to a parched koala in Cudlee Creek, South Australia
AP
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Firefighters tackle a blaze as it tears through a farm in New South Wales on 21 December
AP
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures The sky is turned red over East Gippsland as fires continue to rage through Australian bushland on 4 January
Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures A kangaroo near bushfires in Nowra
AFP/Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures An aerial view of a bushfire near Bairnsdale
State Government of Victoria/EPA
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Firefighters work to tackle a blaze on the outskirts of Sydney on 31 December 2019
Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures A firefighting helicopter dumps water on a bushfire on the outskirts of the town of Bargo near Sydney
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Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Children play at the showgrounds in the southern New South Wales town of Bega where they are camping after being evacuated from nearby sites affected by bushfires
AFP via Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures A satellite image of the Batemans Bay showing smoke and fire from wild bushfires
European Union, Copernicus Sentinel Data via REUTERS
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures The afternoon sky glows red from bushfires in Nowra
AFP/Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Burning embers cover the ground as firefighters battle against bushfires around the town of Nowra
AFP via Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures The sky glows red as bushfires continue to rage in Mallacoota, Victoria
Jonty Smith via Reuters
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures The remains of burnt out buildings along a main street in the New South Wales town of Cobargo
AFP/Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Firefighters try to protect homes around Charmhaven, New South Wales
NSW Rural Fire Service/AP
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Wildfires rage under plumes of smoke in Bairnsdale
Glen Morey via AP
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Business owners stand in front of their shop which was destroyed by a bushfire in Cobargo
EPA
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures A helicopter dumping water on a fire in Victoria's East Gippsland region
Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning/AFP
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Nowra
AFP via Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Think smoke from bushfires fills the air in eastern Gippsland
Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures "Carmelised" snow caused by dust from Australian bushfires is seen near Franz Josef glacier in the Westland Tai Poutini National Park, New Zealand
Reuters
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Firefighters hose down trees as they battle against bushfires around the town of Nowra
AFP via Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Smoke billowing from a fire burning at East Gippsland, Victoria. More than 800,000 hectares have been burnt in East Gippsland
EPA/DELWP Gippsland
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Smoke billowing from a fire burning at East Gippsland
EPA/DELWP Gippsland
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures
LIFES.A.BREEZE via Reuters
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Smoke and wildfire rage behind Lake Conjola
Robert Oerlemans via AP
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures A house and van are seen destroyed after bushfires ravaged the town of Bilpin, west of Sydney
AFP via Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures A helicopter fighting a bushfire near Bairnsdale in Victoria's East Gippsland region
State Government of Victoria/AFP
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Fire and Rescue personal run to move their truck as a bushfire burns next to a major road and homes on the outskirts of the town of Bilpin
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Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Amy, left, and Ben Spencer sit at the showgrounds in the southern New South Wales town of Bega where they are camping after being evacuated from nearby sites affected by bushfires
AFP via Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures A firefighter sprays foam retardant on a back burn ahead of a fire front in the New South Wales town of Jerrawangala
AFP via Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Two bushfires approach a home located on the outskirts of the town of Bargo
Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Property damaged by the East Gippsland fires in Sarsfield, Victoria
EPA
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Nowra
AFP via Getty
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures Property under threat from the East Gippsland fires in Sarsfield
EPA
Devastating wildfires rage across Australia: In pictures The main street of the New South Wales town of Bombala is pictured shrouded in smoke from nearby bushfires
AFP via Getty
The death toll from Australia’s fires has now risen to 12 after a father and son died in the early hours defending their home in New South Wales . Five others have been reported missing.
The military has now been sent in to help emergency services dealing with blazes in two regions.
Army aircraft will go to Victoria and military ships will travel to the area where Mallacoota lies in New South Wales, the Australian minister of defence said.
Since blazes started in September, five million hectares (12 million acres) of land have been torched, covering an area larger than the size of Belgium.
Emergency services officials said it was possible towns in this Gippsland area could be evacuated by sea as the fires, which are being fanned by strong winds, continued.
Authorities urged tens of thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate Victoria at the weekend as they predicted Tuesday would be one of the most significant fire weather days in the state’s history.
People take shelter on a boat just offshore as bushfires rage in the area around Mallacoota (Courtesy of Ida Dempsey/AFP) Fires have also caused extensive damage in New South Wales, Queensland , Western Australia and South Australia.
Scott Morrison , the prime minister, has vowed Sydney’s firework display for New Year’s Eve will go ahead .
Additional reporting by Press Association
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