Wildfires

Wildfires - Australia

Residents were evacuating and moving stock on Wednesday as firefighters battled worsening conditions and an out-of-control blaze near Canberra. The grass and bushfire near Tarago, which broke out on Tuesday, is now 3,290 hectares in size and has burnt through Taylors Creek Road, Bungendore Road and Mount Fairy Road. There are reports that some property has already been lost.

Wildfires - Italy

Arson and human error are the suspected causes of wildfires in hills around the northwestern Italian port city of Genoa that drove hundreds of people from their homes overnight, investigators said on Tuesday.

The blaze that ravaged hillsides in the Genoa district of Nervi may have been started accidentally by highway workers, investigative sources said on Tuesday. But the fire in Pegli was almost certainly an act of arson, the sources said.

The wildfires have prompted officials to close several schools in the area and have badly disrupted traffic in the Liguria region with tailbacks of up to seven kilometres reported along one stretch of the A10 highway.