Lilac Hill
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The death toll from the wildfires in southeastern Australia rose to 84 as thousands of firefighters continued to battle the flames, police said Sunday.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the creation of an Aust $10 million relief fund to help immediately assist the more than 600 families that have lost homes to the blaze.
"Unfortunately those numbers will increase as we move through the day," said Kieran Walshe, deputy police commissioner of the state of Victoria.
Authorities are hoping that mild weather moving into the area later Sunday will help the scores of firefighters who have been battling the flames. Troops are also being deployed to assist, the prime minister's office said.
"By the end of the day, I would imagine a lot more fires will be under control," said Sharon Merritt of the country's Fire Protection Association.
Meanwhile, Victoria police are investigating the possibility that at least two of the fires were set, said Superintendent Ross McNeill.
"We haven't made any arrests," he said. "We're investigating a few suspects at the moment," he said.
Added Walshe: "When you look at the way fires started, you can clearly see it's not possible for a natural ignition to occur."
The Aust $10 million ($6.5 million) will be made available immediately to help families and communities affected by the fire, the government.
By Sunday night, the death toll was at 84, Victoria police spokeswoman Leeanne Clinton. Six hundred and forty houses have been destroyed, Merritt said.
The wildfires could become the worst since fires in 1983 that killed 75 people, officials said.
A third of the deaths occurred in the Kinglake area about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Melbourne, Australia's second most populated city and the capital of Victoria.
Still, despite earlier reports, the fires have not posed a significant threat to more populous areas, including Melbourne, as they sweep across rural outskirts of southeastern Australia, Walshe said.
By Sunday afternoon, eight major fires were burning through Victoria, destroying hundreds of thousands of acres, said Daniel Connell, spokesman for the state's Country Fire Authority. The largest blaze has centered around Kinglake, where 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) have burned down.
Another fire ravaged 90,000 hectares in Churchill, about 160 km (100 miles) southeast of Melbourne.
In Victoria, 30 blazes were registered in 30 hours, said Fran Ludgate with the Fire Protection Association. Photo Photos: Bushfires leave path of destruction »
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service asked residents to remain indoors and close all windows, as winds continued to push smoke from the bush into the Sydney metropolitan area.
Sue McMahon thought she could stay in her home as wildfires burned, but changed her mind after taking a look at the blackening sky in Victoria.
"Combined with the noise and the smoke and the blackness, I don't think I can do it," the Tinumbuk resident said.
Video from the scene showed people trying to stamp out fires with towels and clothes. In some instances, people waited too long to flee the scene and were trapped in their cars, a police spokeswoman said.
Accompanying the flames is one of the most powerful heat waves in memory, with temperatures in parts of Melbourne reaching 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in the last few weeks. Dozens of heat-related deaths have been reported.
By Sunday, the temperatures had dropped to the mid-20s in the area.
The fires were being fought mostly with aircraft, except in areas where homes were at risk, authorities said.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/08/australia.wildfires/index.html
