MELBOURNE
\nAustralian authorities urged people in dozens of rural communities to leave home \u201cimmediately\u201d Thursday to escape an out-of-control bushfire tearing through a national park.
\nAbout 600 firefighters were battling the blaze in the Grampians National Park 240 kilometers (150 miles) west of Melbourne, a Victoria state emergency services spokesperson said.
\nThe blaze has persisted for more than a week in hot, windy conditions, scorching 55,000 hectares (136,000 acres) \u2014 about one-third of the park \u2014 so far without causing deaths or destroying homes.
\nState emergency services warned residents to leave home immediately in more than two dozen mostly small rural communities, with populations ranging from as few as six to as many as several hundred.
\nPeople in several other communities were told to take shelter indoors because it was unsafe to leave.
\nFirefighters expected shifting winds to complicate their task during the day, said Victoria state control center spokesman Luke Hegarty.
\n\u201cWe are reaching a critical part of the day when we see the wind change moving through the western part of the state,\u201d he said in an afternoon update.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re expecting strong winds and variable winds to be a concern for us over the next few hours.\u201d
\nA total fire ban was declared across the whole of Victoria, barring any fires in the open air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MELBOURNE Australian authorities urged people in dozens of rural communities to leave home \u201cimmediately\u201d Thursday to escape an out-of-control bushfire tearing through a national park. About 600 firefighters were battling the blaze in the Grampians National Park 240 kilometers (150 miles) west of Melbourne, a Victoria state emergency services spokesperson said. The blaze has persisted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-451882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n