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65 dead in Australia's worst fires in decades
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-08 09:28
On Saturday, steel-gray smoke clogged the air and flames roared to two-story heights, while homes and businesses burned. At least one fire truck was charred, though the crew escaped injury and went on to rejoin the fight, officials said.
In the town of Taralgon, resident Lindy McPhee watched in fear as a fire front edged closer to the town until rain began falling late Saturday. "It's raining black soot," McPhee told Sky News television. In nearby Wittlesea, organizer Sally Tregae said she canceled the annual country music festival and sent thousands of visitors out of town to safety. "I saw trees explode in front of me," she said. "It's a horrible thing, and a horrible thing to see. I have friends who have lost houses." Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was "absolutely horrified" by the disaster and promised blankets for victims in the near term and money for them later. "This is a terrible and devastating tragedy," Rudd told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. Victoria's Country Fire Authority deputy chief Greg Esnouf said Saturday's conditions were "off the scale" in terms of danger. In Kinglake, the six who died were in the same vehicle, Walshe said — raising fears that they may be a family. He declined to give details of the deaths until further investigations were carried out. In New South Wales state, police detained and questioned a man in connection with a blaze but released him without charge. Fires were also burning on Sunday north of Sydney in New South Wales state and in South Australia. No properties were immediately being threatened. Wildfires are common during the Australian summer. Government research shows that about half of the 60,000 fires on average each year are deliberately lit or suspicious. Lightning strikes and human activity such as use of machinery near dry brush cause the others. Australia's deadliest fires were in 1983, when blazes killed 75 people and razed more than 3,000 homes in Victoria and South Australia. In 2003, hundreds of houses were destroyed and four people died when a huge blaze tore into the national capital, Canberra. In 2006, nine people died in fires on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.
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