As many as 20 homes have been lost and three firefighters injured in a raging wildfire in Western Australia, officials said Wednesday as search and rescue teams entered the fire zone to assess damage.
Hundreds of firefighters are still battling the out-of-control blaze at Toodyay, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Perth, after searing temperatures and windy conditions fuelled fires around the state.
"The bushfire has slowed considerably... Sections of the fire are still out of control and unpredictable, but less volatile," Western Australia's Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA) said.
"Flames are one to two metres (up to seven feet) high in some places," it said in a statement, adding more than 2,700 hectares (areound 6,700 acres) had been burnt.
The authority said two firefighters had been treated for smoke inhalation while a third firefighter had been released from hospital after suffering from heat illness.
A second fire in Badgingarra, about 160 kilometres north of Perth, was also raging out of control but cooler conditions and water-bombing helicopters were expected to help firefighters.
"The bushfire has been now been contained but is not under control," FESA said.
The Badgingarra fire has burned out some 10,500 hectares but no homes have been lost.
Wildfires are a common feature of the Australian summer, particularly in areas dried out by prolonged drought.
In February, some 173 people lost their lives and thousands of homes were wiped out by blazes in the southern state of Victoria in Australia's worst natural disaster of modern times.
Copyright 2009 AFP Asian Edition
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