Australian wildfires spark state of emergency
Last Updated: Sunday, October 18, 2009 | 8:38 AM ET
CBC News
A state of emergency has been declared in the Australian state of Queensland, where about 40 wildfires have destroyed several properties and forced residents to flee.
Firefighters have been battling one of the largest of the fires in central Queensland near Mount Archer National Park. The blaze began to ease in the last three days, but flared up again late Saturday.
Frantic families tried to gather everyone to get to out of the area as the flames came over a ridge towards their homes.
Firefighters are hoping that showers and thunderstorms forecast for Sunday will help them control the blaze.
They say the fire may have been deliberately set.
Wildfires are also burning in New South Wales and Western Australia, but no property or lives there are under threat.
In February, wildfires killed 173 people in the southeastern state of Victoria in a disaster known as Black Saturday.
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