This weekend, Australia battled heat so intense the road was melting and Penrith was the hottest place on planet Earth.
Yesterday, a 15-year-old girl was charged with intentionally starting a bushfire which spread through Carrum Downs, southeast of Melbourne, during the heatwave.
The destructive fire took 300 firefighters and two aircrafts to overcome and many residents were forced to battle smaller spot fires on their properties.
As the blaze sped through the reserve, dozens were forced to evacuate as it came closer to the surrounding residential areas.
One house was severely damaged by the intentional fire, which saw the family not only lose a place to live but also an art collections worth $40,000.
“I’m terrified to go anywhere near the house. I don’t want to see the house,” Jim Crozier told the ABC.
Crozier’s house was damaged after embers got in through an evaporative cooling unit on the roof.
Fortunately no-one was injured by the fires which burned 36 hectares of bush and travelled 1.5km before firefighters were eventually able to get it under control.
Another neighbour told the ABC she was at work during the fire, but her husband was convinced they’d lose the house in the inferno.
“To look out the back fence now and see the devastation is horrible,” she said.
“Yesterday morning it was green, lush and now it’s just black … horrible.”
The teenager accused of starting the fire has been released on bail and will appear in children’s court at a later date.
Temps in Victoria have taken a massive drop since the wave over the weekend, averaging around 22 degrees around the state.
