35 die as fires devastate parched Australia
SYDNEY - Walls of flame roared across southeastern Australia yesterday, razing scores of homes, forests and farmland in the sunburned country's worst wildfire disaster in a quarter century.
SYDNEY - Walls of flame roared across southeastern Australia yesterday, razing scores of homes, forests and farmland in the sunburned country's worst wildfire disaster in a quarter century.
At least 35 people died, and the toll could rise to more than 40, police said.
Witnesses described seeing trees exploding and skies raining ash as temperatures hit a record 117 degrees and combined with raging winds to create perfect conditions for uncontrollable blazes.
A long-running drought in southern Australia - the worst in a century - has left forests extra dry.
The fires were so massive they were visible from space. NASA released satellite photographs showing a white cloud of smoke across southeastern Australia.
Police said they believed some of the fires had been set and predicted it would take days to get all the blazes under control.
The threat eased somewhat early today as temperatures fell sharply, winds slowed, and rain began falling.
Thousands of firefighters struggled through last night to make headway against the largest of about a dozen large fires in Victoria state. Earlier in the day, the fires had ripped unchecked across at least 115 square miles of forests, farmland and towns.
The worst fire was about 60 miles north of the southern city of Melbourne.
"The whole township is pretty much on fire," Peter Mitchell, a resident of the town of Kinglake, where at least six people died, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio during the inferno. "There was no time to do anything. . . . It came through in minutes."
Early in the day, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said investigators making their way into burned-out areas had confirmed 25 deaths, all in Victoria state.
"To have 25 confirmed deceased, that gives me great concern that the numbers are going to get substantially higher as the day goes on, as we're able to get into the fire zones behind the fires to do those searches," Walshe told Nine Network television.
"It's been, I think, the worst day in our history," said Victorian Premier John Brumby, whose parents' house was saved by firefighters.
