Fires in Australia

I know this isn't directly related to children, but I watched the news this morning and was horrified at the scale of this disaster. Bodies of people trying to flee found in burnt out cars. How awful to be one of the lucky ones because you have lost absolutely everything, but are alive. Finally, the real horror for me, they are reporting that some of these fires were started deliberately !!!


Australian Fires Death Toll Rises
7:49am UK, Sunday February 08, 2009

The wildfires raging through south-eastern Australia have claimed the lives of at least 65 people and left 640 houses destroyed.
Firefighters attempt to control wild flames in Tonimbuk, 78 miles west of Melbourne
Many of those killed were trapped in cars trying to flee a huge inferno north of Melbourne.
Survivors described "walls of flames" destroying homes and engulfing entire towns.
Hayden Lane of the Victoria Country Fire Service said that 550 of the houses confirmed as destroyed in Saturday's fires are in the area of Kinglake, north of the main southern city of Melbourne.The others were in nearby areas.

Mr Lane said those figures were expected to increase.Australia's worst bushfires occurred in 1983 when 75 people were killed in Victoria.

The leader of Australia's Victoria state says troops will be deployed to help control the country's worst blazes in a quarter of a century.
Troops will assist the Victoria effort They will join thousands of volunteers after Premier John Brumby confirmed he had accepted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's offer of extra help. Mr Brumby said the army would provide "logistics and support" including trucking fuel and using bulldozers to build firebreaks.

Conditions were said to be much better on Sunday, but several dangerous fires were still raging and posed a significant threat. Fires tore through forests, farms and towns in Victoria on Saturday as temperatures and wind speeds soared. The blaze was so massive they were visible from space.

NASA released satellite photographs showing a white cloud of smoke across the country's South East.

These fires can get out of hand so fast. I hope not many people are harmed