The ACT is enduring one of the worst days of this bushfire season, which threatens to match the fatal blaze of 2003 which destroyed 500 homes and killed four people. The huge 33,000 hectare Orroral Valley fire is out-of-control, and is simply too dangerous to fight on the ground. There are also four huge blazes burning out of control in NSW, with the RFS warning they are spreading quickly. Out-of-control bushfires forced residents near Canberra to flee their homes overnight as the first state of emergency in 17 years was declared in the nation's capital. The 2003 fire spread quickly after four fires merged into a megablaze and roared into Canberra's south-western suburbs.

Source: Daily Mail January 31, 2020 22:02 UTC