Australia's Worse Bushfires in History - 93 people now confirmed dead and more missing

[Stacey King]

Australia’s ‘Hell on Earth’ Fires May Burn for Days
Feb. 9 2009 Bloomberg New York, USA by Robert Fenner

Australia’s worst bushfires on record left at least 93 people dead and may burn for days as winds fan flames across southern Victoria state.

More than 300,000 hectares (741,316 acres) have been burnt and 700 homes destroyed with eight large blazes still being fought, the state’s Country Fire Authority said on its Web site. Winds of up to 24 knots and scattered showers are forecast for Victoria in the next three days, said the Bureau of Meteorology’s Simon Allen.

“Out there it has been hell on earth,” Victorian Premier John Brumby said yesterday in a televised address. “These fires though are not finished. We have strong winds across the state and the fires will continue to burn for days and communities will continue to be threatened.”

Two weeks of record temperatures and hot northerly gales across the southeast of the continent made conditions over the weekend worse than in February 1983, when 75 people in Victoria and neighboring South Australia died in the so-called Ash Wednesday fires. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has deployed the nation’s army to help firefighters in Australia’s second-most populous state.

Confirmed deaths totaled 93 late last night, according to the state’s police, a toll exceeding the 71 killed in the Black Friday fires of Jan. 13, 1939, which also occurred in Victoria.

“Police will recommence investigations at daybreak,” Senior Constable Kendra Jackson said in a statement.

Cooler Weather

Firefighters in Victoria and neighboring New South Wales state, where 50 fires burned yesterday, are looking to cooler weather to help fight the blazes. Temperatures in Victoria reached a record 46.4 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) in Melbourne on Feb. 7 before a southerly front started yesterday to move across Australia’s southeast.

Many of the latest deaths occurred around the towns of Kinglake, St. Andrews and Wandong, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of the state capital Melbourne, where the fire front stretched to 80 kilometers.

“Kinglake’s ceased to exist for all intents and purposes,” Moray Sharp, a local realtor, told the Age newspaper. “I can’t explain anything other than that it was like a sustained bombing attack, that what it was like with the noise,” said Sharp, who lost his home in the blaze.

The dead include Brian Naylor, who was the top-rated television newsreader in Melbourne for 28 years before retiring to his Kinglake property in 1998.

The nearby town of Marysville, with a population of about 500, has been virtually destroyed with the loss of homes along with its school, pub and police station.

Aid to Victims

Some of the fires may have been deliberately lit, Victorian deputy police commissioner Kieran Walshe told Sky News.

Red Cross staff and volunteers are working at 20 relief centers to support those affected with 3,700 people registered as evacuated.

State and federal governments pledged at least A$10 million ($6.7 million) of rebuilding funds and immediate cash payments to victims. Eligible adults can claim immediate payments of A$1,000 and A$400 for children, with A$22,000 provided to those that have lost their homes.

Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and his state counterpart Ted Baillieu both pledged bipartisan support for relief efforts. Brumby and Rudd each pledged A$2 million government donations to the state bushfire appeal with National Australia Bank Ltd. and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. each making A$1 million donations.

An international cricket match between Australia and New Zealand, scheduled for tomorrow in Adelaide, will become a benefit match with proceeds going to fire victims, host broadcaster the Nine network said Sunday.

New South Wales state, which is fighting its own blazes, has sent 255 firefighters, 50 tankers and five paramedics to assist Victoria, Premier Nathan Rees told reporters yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Fenner in Melbourne [e-mail]