Australian wildfire death toll expected to pass 200

by Amy Judd | February 10, 2009 at 11:35 am

439 views | 2 Recommendations | 6 comments

Two people are assisting police in relation to the wildfires that many believe were started by arsonists.

The Australian wildfire death toll is expected to reach over 200 people now, as the flames continue to burn and people are leaving it too late to get out of their homes. Many people died in their cars while trying to escape as the flames grew up around them and they had no where to go.

"People need to understand that a late departure is the most deadly," fire chief Paul Rees said.

The recovery teams said that they have entered towns where the fires have swept through and have found burned bodies beside the roads and in cars as people tried to escape but couldn't. It is probably more dangerous to be on the road than anywhere else as some fires are still burning.

Even though Australia does have wildfires every few years, there has not been a set of fires like this one for as long as anyone can remember and the death toll is just shocking to all residents of the country.

The extreme weather conditions have made the situation worse however as the ground is just so dry and the winds are picking up all the time.

Authorities are saying that it is not a good idea to stay and defend your homes and to leave as soon as possible. Evacuation is not mandatory, but from the situations they have seen so far, it's better to get out quickly to save yourselves.

The official death toll is at 181 right now, but there are still a number of bodies yet to be identified.

The animals are also struggling from these fires as one firefighter experienced when he came across a Koala Bear walking on scorched paws.

"It was amazing, he turned around, sat on his bum and sort of looked at me with (a look) like, put me out of my misery," Tree told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I yelled out for a bottle of water. I unscrewed the bottle, tipped it up on his lips and he just took it naturally.

"He kept reaching for the bottle, almost like a baby."

The team called animal welfare officers to pick up the koala Sunday, the day after deadly firestorms swept southern Victoria state.

Koalas are often caught in fires as they are quite slow moving creatures.

Many livestock have also been killed by an official count has not been conducted yet.

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cowgirlzen

at 11:41 on February 10th, 2009

We have been watching this closely as we have family right down there. The internet news doesnt really do what has happened justice. The tragedy of this has so many layers and I pray they will not make one person or persons at fault to create a scapegoat. There are many responsible for the high death toll... many.

Caleesto

at 15:00 on February 10th, 2009

I would expect it to get worse again to unfortunately as the temp is going to heat up by the weekend and into next week and unfortunately there is still a lot of Vic that can be burnt out. It was meant to be 46 degrees sunday but that has now been lowered to the 30's thank god but with the heat the firebugs are bound to come out again.

This fire has been classified now as the worst bushfire in world history as no other fire has ever caused this many deaths.

This is now going before the Royal Commision in Australia, everything, a look into the whole situation to find out what went wrong, where things can be improved and basically who is at fault, Nothing is going to be left out. The Royal Comission is basically the hightest court (I guess you would call it) in Australia and whoever or however many different parties there are to blame, they will all come out, no feelings spared.

They are also going to look again into yearly burning off to reduce vegetation, something they use to do until the Greenies got in on the act and had it stopped, allowing dead vegetation to lie on the ground wherever it fell.

A sketch is soon to be released of a suspect as well. Hopefully who ever it is is caught as well.

JAFO

at 16:41 on February 10th, 2009

Firefighters down in Victoria have enjoyed much better weather conditions with the temperatures staying around 77‘F’ with scatted rain since Monday, making firefighters job a little more easier with the 20 odd Bushfire Still Burning in Victoria, 3 of which are still threatening towns.

So far around 900 homes have been confirmed lost with this growing every day as Emergency Crews re-enter and conduct searches of areas that have been devastated by the Fires. 3 Townships – Merysville, Flowerdale and Kinglake have basically been completely destroyed, with nearly no buildings remaining in these three townships.

The Bushfire Fatality Toll stands at 183 this morning, but again the toll is expected to rise with each new day as Emergency Crews extend their search into effected areas, with some whole town becoming crime scenes. Authorities are now saying the Toll could reach up to 300, as bodies are being found every day.

My Department the NSW Fire Brigades has sent 10 Water Tankers crewed by Part-time Firefighters from the Southern part of N.S.W. to assist. Some of our Officers have been sent down to Victoria to assist with Incident Management Teams, none of us Permanent Firefighters here in Sydney have been deployed down to Victoria to help out with the firefighting effort as of yet.

On the home front in N.S.W, well we have 3 Major Bushfires that started on the weekend still burning, but they seem insignificant to those down in Victoria.