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Raging Wildfires Kill at Least 14 in Australia
By ROHAN SULLIVAN
Associated Press Writer
SYDNEY -- Raging wildfires swept southeastern Australia on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and razing some 100 homes as scorching temperatures and gale-force winds combined into a deadly inferno.
Victoria state police said the death toll might exceed 40 as dozens of fires burned unchecked into the night. Some officials described the day as the worst in the sunburned country's history of wildfires.
This image provided by NASA shows a large plume of smoke spreading southward from a fire (outlined in red) that appears to be burning in a small area of forest west of Churchill in Victoria's Gippsland region. The forest is dark green in contrast to the surrounding grass or cropland. Raging wildfires swept through southeastern Australia on Saturday Feb. 7, 2009 as gale force winds and scorching temperatures combined into a deadly inferno that killed at least 14 people, officials said. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite was captured on Jan. 30, 2009.(AP Photo/NASA)
More than 30,000 volunteer firefighters were battling fires after dark, when helicopters and planes that hand-dumped millions of tons of water on the flames returned to base for safety reasons.
Residents in the paths of the fires reported seeing their towns ablaze, and television footage showed flames leaping at least 25 feet (8 meters) in the air.
"The whole township is pretty much on fire," Peter Mitchell, a resident of Kinglake town, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "There was no time to do anything ... it came through in minutes."
Officials said chaotic scenes on the ground and ongoing firefighting efforts had hampered the collection of information, including the number of deaths and properties burned.
Victoria deputy police commissioner Kieran Walshe said 14 people were confirmed dead at four different sites, all connected to the same fire in Gippsland, a large farming region dotted by small towns and national parks of old-growth eucalyptus trees.
The deadly fire burned on a front of up to 12 miles (20 kilometers) and was moving at around 40 mph (60 kph), officials said. At least 115 square miles (30,000 hectares) was burned out by that one fire.
Of those killed, six died in the same vehicle at Kinglake town, Walshe said.
"This has been an absolute tragedy for this state," he told a news conference. "We believe this figure may only get worse, we are concerned that this figure could even reach up into the 40s."
Victoria's fires were by far the worst of blazes in three states Saturday as temperatures soared to 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 Celsius).
Victoria's Country Fire Authority deputy chief Greg Esnouf said the conditions on Saturday were "off the scale" in terms of danger, and warned that the forecast for Sunday was the same.
Police said they believed some of the fires were deliberately lit and were questioning one man in relation to a fire near the Victoria state capital of Melbourne.
Wildfires are common during the Australian summer, as rising temperatures bake forest land tinder dry and blustering winds fan embers. Some 60,000 fires occur each year, and about half are deliberately lit or suspicious, government research says. 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.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Associated Press Writer
SYDNEY -- Raging wildfires swept southeastern Australia on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and razing some 100 homes as scorching temperatures and gale-force winds combined into a deadly inferno.
Victoria state police said the death toll might exceed 40 as dozens of fires burned unchecked into the night. Some officials described the day as the worst in the sunburned country's history of wildfires.
This image provided by NASA shows a large plume of smoke spreading southward from a fire (outlined in red) that appears to be burning in a small area of forest west of Churchill in Victoria's Gippsland region. The forest is dark green in contrast to the surrounding grass or cropland. Raging wildfires swept through southeastern Australia on Saturday Feb. 7, 2009 as gale force winds and scorching temperatures combined into a deadly inferno that killed at least 14 people, officials said. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite was captured on Jan. 30, 2009.(AP Photo/NASA)
More than 30,000 volunteer firefighters were battling fires after dark, when helicopters and planes that hand-dumped millions of tons of water on the flames returned to base for safety reasons.
Residents in the paths of the fires reported seeing their towns ablaze, and television footage showed flames leaping at least 25 feet (8 meters) in the air.
"The whole township is pretty much on fire," Peter Mitchell, a resident of Kinglake town, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "There was no time to do anything ... it came through in minutes."
Officials said chaotic scenes on the ground and ongoing firefighting efforts had hampered the collection of information, including the number of deaths and properties burned.
Victoria deputy police commissioner Kieran Walshe said 14 people were confirmed dead at four different sites, all connected to the same fire in Gippsland, a large farming region dotted by small towns and national parks of old-growth eucalyptus trees.
The deadly fire burned on a front of up to 12 miles (20 kilometers) and was moving at around 40 mph (60 kph), officials said. At least 115 square miles (30,000 hectares) was burned out by that one fire.
Of those killed, six died in the same vehicle at Kinglake town, Walshe said.
"This has been an absolute tragedy for this state," he told a news conference. "We believe this figure may only get worse, we are concerned that this figure could even reach up into the 40s."
Victoria's fires were by far the worst of blazes in three states Saturday as temperatures soared to 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 Celsius).
Victoria's Country Fire Authority deputy chief Greg Esnouf said the conditions on Saturday were "off the scale" in terms of danger, and warned that the forecast for Sunday was the same.
Police said they believed some of the fires were deliberately lit and were questioning one man in relation to a fire near the Victoria state capital of Melbourne.
Wildfires are common during the Australian summer, as rising temperatures bake forest land tinder dry and blustering winds fan embers. Some 60,000 fires occur each year, and about half are deliberately lit or suspicious, government research says. 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.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John on
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Man lets pray for Our Brothers and Sisters in Aussie to be able to save as much as they can and to not let harm come to any.
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Permalink Reply by Aussie_Wildfire on
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Confirmed 25, possible 40 dead, 1 million arces burnt in 400 fires in 1 day, 8 major fires still burning out of control
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Permalink Reply by Brian Rourke on
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Hi Guys,
Some more bad news from the Southern state of Victoria, Australia.... official figures as at 23:00 Hrs Sunday night 84 deaths have been varified 750 homes destroyed. there are still areas too dangerous to enter yet where we are expecting to locate more deceases persons. fires are still raging out of control across the state with large numbers of small communities under major threat from these Wild fires.
My own State Of New South Wales is experiencing 64 Bush fires at present with 2 major fire of concern.... one is uncontained in mountainous terrain... with no property under threat at this present time... the other at Peats Ridge is burning uncontrolled within containment lines put in over night.
we are waiting for a major Southerly change to hit around midnight with expected wind gust exceeding 80 kph
55 mph.... the 250 firies on the ground will be praying that the lines hold.... if they don't there will be major fire impacting on a very large farming community and residential properties.
My heart goes out to all the lost soles and there families that have already been lost.
Brian...! NSWFB
Stay safe my Brothers
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Thomas,
Multiple news sources are reporting that most of the fatalities were the result of wildfires burning their vehicles as they tried to escape. Here's a link from Yahoo news on thishttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090208/ap_on_re_au_an/as_australia_wildfires:
That's not an indictment of Stay and Defend. It's entirely possible that a more comprehensive Stay and Defend policy would have actually saved some homes and lives in the ongoing tragedy in Oz. Several Oz wildland firefighters have commented on this elsewhere on FFN. The common thread - Stay and Defend saved their towns, their homes, and resulted in no loss of life.
That's a preliminary indicator that maybe Oz should practice more Stay and Defend, not less.
In any case, with the situation ongoing, we're not going to know all of the facts for quite a while.
Ben
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Permalink Reply by Aussie Fire on
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Confirmed death toll now up to 96 and word is that it will go a lot higher still.
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