SYDNEY (BLOOMBERG) - Tens of thousands of holiday-makers and residents are being urged to evacuate a popular tourist spot in south-east Australia as a heatwave sweeping through the region threatens to escalate wildfires.

In a televised appeal Sunday (Dec 29), Victoria state's Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp called on some 30,000 people vacationing around Lakes Entrance in the East Gippsland region to leave immediately.