126 people dead, 750 homes destroyed in worst bushfires in Australia's history

[Stacey King]

Article from: Herald Sun, Victoria
By staff writers
February 09, 2009 11:06am

Interactive map: Map: Where the fires are burning now

Photo gallery of bush fire disaster

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd said arsonists in Victoria had committed mass murder as the death toll in Australia's worst ever bushfires rose to 126 this afternoon, with the final toll expected to be much more.

Authorities are being warned to expect a toll of 230, The Australian quoted sources inside state emergency meetings as saying. Fires were still burning out of control and putting towns at risk in the Beechworth and Yackandandah regions in the state's northeast.

Amid speculation some of the fires were deliberately lit - and with reports yesterday that people were returning to relight blazes after fire crews had left an area - Mr Rudd said: "There are no words to describe it other than mass murder."

At least 750 homes have been destroyed and 3733 people have registered with the Red Cross after evacuating their properties. The number left homeless is expected to be far higher, the Red Cross said.
It was confirmed that at least four children have died, but that figure would also be expected to rise as full details emerged.

A two-year-old girl was among 13 in intensive care in hospital. Twenty-two people with shocking burns were admitted to the Alfred hospital, the state's main trauma centre, where staff ran out of morphine trying to ease patients' pain.

Most of the damage was done by two massive fires - one that virtually wiped out towns northeast of Melbourne including Kinglake and Marysville with a 100km front - and a second inferno that raced across Gippsland.

TV veteran Brian Naylor and his wife Moiree were among the dead. The pair died when the fire at Kinglake swept through their property.

Bushfire experts told news.com.au that blazes with a danger rating of 100 are considered uncontrollable. Saturday's fire had a rating of 400.

Horrific deaths
Six victims were in one car trying to outrun the inferno which swept through Kinglake in minutes. A resident said the town was littered with burnt-out cars and he believed many contained bodies.
"It's going to look like Hiroshima, I tell you, it's going to look like a nuclear bomb," he told Melbourne's Herald Sun.

His daughter told of another resident who "went to put his kids in the car, put them in, turned around to go grab something from the house, then his car was on fire with his kids in it, and they burnt".

Weather conditions have eased since Saturday's firestorm, but firefighters were still battling 31 active blazes across the state as of 11.00am (AEDT), authorities said. The communities of Stanley, Bruarong, Dederang, Gundowring, Gundowring Upper, Kancoona, Kancoona South, Coral Bank, Glenn Creek and Running Creek remained under threat, they said.

Residents of Taggerty, Acheron, Snobs Creek and Eildon were also on alert. Some fires would take weeks to contain, authorities said, and it could also take weeks to formally identify some of those killed.
Other teams were working to clear debris from towns gutted over the weekend to allow those lucky enough to escape a chance to return to their properties.

Among the survivors, families sat in dazed disbelief, surrounded by mattresses, dogs and whatever meagre possessions they managed to gather as they fled the fires.

Some talked of friends who had lost children, brothers and sisters, kids who have lost best friends and of a woman who has not seen her husband since Saturday. They said they had no warning before daylight turned to night and their communities were enveloped in a wall of fire and smoke.

"We looked over and there was a wall of flames looking at us and everything went pitch black. There was no warning," Joanne Fisher of Kinglake said. "I've never seen anything like it in my life ... You see this on TV, it doesn't happen to you."

Arson rumours
It was believed the fire in Bendigo was caused by a cigarette, but Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said she was sickened by the fact some other fires might have been deliberately lit.

"It makes me very angry ... we all knew we faced the most enormous risks in our community.

"To then have someone who may have lit these fires. Fires are so devastating. The injuries we are seeing. We are talking about a massive death toll."

A survivor told news.com.au that arsonists should hope the police caught them first. "Watch your back, that's all I want to say to them. Watch your back, 24/7."

Teams of disaster victim identification experts were flying in from all over Australia. Extra fire crews were being sent from interstate.

Mr Kevin Rudd offered army troops to help firefighters control the fires. He and state Premier John Brumby also opened up $10 million in emergency funding yesterday.

"This is of a level of horror that few of us anticipated," he said this morning.

- Based on latest official figures from Victoria Police. Six people died in unknown locations.