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SYDNEY : Wildfires were burning in three Australian states on Sunday, forcing the temporary evacuation of people from about 100 homes threatened by one blaze in the northeast.
Firefighters in the northeast faced strong winds fanning the erratic fire near Mount Archer National Park on the outskirts of Rockhampton in central Queensland.
But the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service said the threat from the fire, which destroyed one unoccupied house overnight, had eased.
"Residents who chose to relocate on the advice of authorities are now able to return to their homes," the service said in a statement, after about 100 homes were initially deemed at high risk.
"While the immediate threat to residential areas has passed for now, isolated pockets of unburnt land remain and the fire will continue to burn."
In New South Wales, firefighters were battling several blazes on the east coast and in the state's north. But officials were hopeful that favourable winds would lessen the danger.
A large blaze in an inaccessible area near Coaldale continued to burn.
On Friday, one firefighter collapsed and died after helping put out a grass fire on the New South Wales coast.
Across the country in Western Australia state, a bushfire was burning near the northern resort town of Broome but had been contained.
The fire, which has burned through about 60,000 hectares (148,200 acres) of land, currently poses no threat to lives or property.
The fires come at the start of Australia's warmer months, during which bushfires flare in many areas of the country, aided by extremely hot and dry conditions.
In February, bushfires killed 173 people in the southeastern state of Victoria, eradicating entire towns and destroying thousands of homes in a firestorm known as Black on Saturday. - AFP/ms
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