One killed in massive bushfire in southeast Australia

At least one person has been killed in a massive bushfire in southeast Australia as scorching heatwave continued to grip the region with temperatures rising above 40 degrees Celsius.

Police on Friday confirmed the death of one person in the Grampians bushfire. "The death is being treated as occurring as a result of the fires," Victoria Police said. Over 100 bushfires have been reported burning across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales(NSW). At least 72 bushfires were reported in Victoria with 43 of them burning out of control, national public broadcaster ABC reported.

In South Australia, hundreds of firefighters were managing 16 blazes and in NSW there were almost 50 blazes burning with 12 of them out of control. Melbourne city, currently running Australian Tennis Open, was again expected to see high temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius. Heatwave has also caused widespread power cuts and led to the suspension of matches at the tournament.

The organisers on Thursday implemented the extreme-heat policy just before 2pm local time. Victoria is expected to touch 44 degrees Celsius on Friday with the chance of a late storm. The temperature touched 43.9 degrees Celsius on Thursday even as fire authorities continue to monitor extreme fire conditions across the state.

Ambulance Victoria reported treating people for cardiac arrests and heat exhaustion. Paramedics were called to treat 37 cardiac arrests on Thursday. In addition, almost 400 people were treated for heat to exhaustion since Monday, including 163 on Thursday.

High temperatures across the South Australian region also took a toll on a colony of flying foxes with about 90 found dead on the ground in Adelaide's Botanic Park. It was reported that many of them dropped from the trees either dead or dehydrated. Environment Department ecologist Jason van Weenen said about a tenth of the colony has died in the current heatwave.

Melbourne's temperature is expected to drop nearly 15 degrees in 30 minutes when a cool change hits the city just after 8pm today. Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Richard Russell said the change will be very windy, and Melburnians will experience an almost instant relief from the relentless heat.