Drought + extremely dry conditions + lightning = wild fire...

Late Friday afternoon we had quite a lot of lightning and now we have severe wild fires near Benalla. These extend over the mountains to the coast. Many are in inaccessible mountain areas and are burning fiercely. We are expecting temperatures around 40 degrees at the weekend so everyone is bracing themselves...

The first photo is from the edge of Benalla...

This one from a property in Myrhee which is even closer...