Four homes razed as Australian crews battle bushfires

Four homes were destroyed as Australian firefighters struggled to bring two major blazes under control in Victoria state with high temperatures and gusty winds ahead of a cool change today.
Lightning strikes this week ignited 350 fires with several becoming significant, according to authorities. Some 500 firefighters are tackling the outbreaks with nearly 24,700 acres razed.
Two fires in Victoria's northeast-- at Lake Rowan-Warbys some 12 miles northwest of the regional city of Wangaratta and Creightons Creek-Longwood just south of Euroa -- have been burning for several days and remain out of control.
"There have been four confirmed house losses but we're still assessing the extent of the impact on agriculture," Victoria's Country Fire Authority spokesman Lee Miezis told AFP.

"We do understand that one farmer has lost about a thousand head of stock, so it's quite a significant impact on stock."
Officials today downgraded an emergency warning for communities around Mia Mia, Meadow Valley and Glenhope in central Victoria after containing the spread of a fast-moving grassfire.
The weather conditions were set to remain challenging ahead of a forecast drop in the temperature in the evening.
"As that cold change moves across the state, we are starting to see some stronger winds from the southwest with the wind speed getting up to about 24.9 miles per hour," Miezis said.