Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the largest military call-up in living memory to assist thousands of volunteer firefighters
Temperatures soared above 40C and gale force winds fanned hundreds of fires, many of which are already burning out of control across the country.
"We've literally seen tens of thousands of people moving away," said New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons predicting a long and difficult day ahead. Since late September, more than 20 people have died, more than 1,500 homes have been damaged and an area roughly twice the size of Belgium or Hawaii has burned.
Mick Cummins, 57, and his wife fled to the evacuation centre when fire ripped through his rural town on New Year's Eve. In the small town of Mallacoota, Australia's navy was called in to evacuate around 1,000 people trapped by fire and forced to wait for days on the foreshore.
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