Thousands Evacuated as ‘Columns of Fire’ Threaten Popular Australian Tourism Region

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from a popular tourist region on Australia’s southeastern coast Monday as authorities warned of “columns of fire” fueled by extreme heat and high winds. Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said the dangerous fires, which killed a volunteer fireman on Monday, were “punching into the atmosphere” and generating their own weather systems. “There’s lightning coming out of these columns,” Crisp said. “It is unpredictable, it’s dangerous out there.” Some of the more than 100 fires now burning are more than 600 miles wide. Nearly 10 million acres and more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed. Despite the devastation and the elevated risk, the city of Sydney will still hold its annual New Year’s Eve fireworks, despite a petition with more than a quarter-million signatures to cancel it and direct the funding to efforts to fight the fires across the country. City of Sydney spokeswoman Tanya Goldberg said canceling would “seriously hurt” businesses and ruin New Year’s Eve plans for tens of thousands of people.