A wildfire burning near Australia's national capital Canberra has grown to more than 35,000 hectares as some residents were warned it's too late to leave the area.
As officials closed a major motorway due to the bushfire, residents in some areas around the capital were warned that it was "too late to leave" and were advised to seek shelter.
The capital region declared a state of emergency on Friday because of a fire that by Saturday covered 88,500 acres (35,800 hectares) of forest and farmland south of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Emergency Services Agency Commissioner Georgeina Whelan said.
Spot fires were sparked by embers carried on winds up to six miles (10km) from the fire front, and some of those fires will eventually merge with the main fire, she said.
The fires threaten Canberra’s southern suburbs and the nearby village of Tharwa, which has been cut off by road closures since Saturday morning.
Monaro Highway in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has been closed.
“The fire may pose a threat to lives directly in its path,” Ms Whelan told reporters in Canberra. “Driving is extremely dangerous and potentially deadly.”
The fire was downgraded from emergency level late on Saturday to the second level on a three-tier scale of danger due to a fall in temperatures and winds.
But several fires continued to burn at emergency levels in south-east New South Wales.
New South Wales Rural Fire Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said sheds and stables had been destroyed but no homes had been reported lost to wildfires on Saturday.
The continuing state of emergency is the first in the Australian Capital Territory since 2003, when wildfires killed four people and destroyed almost 500 homes in a single day.
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Fires across southern Australia have claimed at least 33 lives since September, destroyed more than 3,000 homes and razed more than 10.6 million hectares (26.2 million acres).
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