65 dead in Australia's worst fires in decades

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-08 09:28

SYDNEY – Walls of flame roared across southeastern Australia, razing scores of homes, forests and farmland in the country's worst wildfire disaster in a quarter century. At least 65 people died and the toll could rise further, police said Sunday.

Officials said at least 640 homes were destroyed in Saturday's inferno when searing temperatures and wind blasts produced a firestorm that swept across a swath of the country's Victoria state, where all the deaths occurred.

In this image rendered from video and released by AuBC, CHANNEL 9 via APTN, wildfires burn near a community in Victoria state, Saturday, February 7, 2009, north of Melbourne, Australia. Police say the death toll from wildfires that swept southeastern Australia has risen to 49 people. More than a dozen blazes burned unchecked Saturday in three states, with temperatures soaring and high winds fanning flames. [Agencies]

Witnesses described seeing trees exploding and skies raining ash as temperatures hit a record 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 C) on Saturday and combined with raging winds to create perfect conditions for uncontrollable blazes.

"Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria in the last 24 hours," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters Sunday as he toured the fire zone.

Police said they believed the deaths included groups of people whose charred bodies were found in cars — suggesting families or groups of friends were engulfed in flames as they tried to flee. One official said an entire town had been razed save for one building, though no deaths were reported there.

Police said they were still trying to confirm details of the deaths, with officers' movements hampered by still-dangerous conditions in the disaster zone.

Victoria state police spokeswoman Creina O'Grady said the latest death toll on Sunday evening was 65.

Conditions in Victoria eased Sunday, but several major fires were still posing a threat and state Premier John Brumby said troops would be deployed to help thousands of exhausted volunteer firefighters battle on.

The fires were so massive they were visible from space Saturday. NASA released satellite photographs showing a white cloud of smoke across southeastern Australia.

The remains of houses destroyed by bushfires line a street in the town Kinglake, about 46 kms (29 miles) north east of Melbourne February 8, 2009. [Agencies]

Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said police suspected some of the fires were set deliberately, and predicted it would take days to get all the blazes under control.

The largest of about a dozen big fires in Victoria ripped unchecked across at least 115 square miles (30,000 hectares) of forests, farmland and towns about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of the state capital, Melbourne.

"The whole township is pretty much on fire," Peter Mitchell, a resident of the town of Kinglake, where at least six people died, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio during the inferno. "There was no time to do anything. ... It came through in minutes."

Forecasters said temperatures would only reach about 77 F (25 C) on Sunday around Melbourne, but along with cooler conditions came wind changes that could push fires in unpredictable directions.

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