Monday, 9 February 2009
Sunday, 8 February 2009
$10 million government fund for bushfire victims
Premier John Brumby breaks down while speaking at a press conference at Kilmore. Photo: John Woudstra
A fund to help communities affected by what have been called the worst fires in Victoria's history has been started with a $10 million contribution equally shared by the State and Federal governments.
Outside the CFA station at Kangaroo Ground, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also pledged the strength of the Australian Defence Force to help Victoria in its time of crisis.
Brian Naylor and wife Moiree amongst the dead
Now 84 dead
UPDATE:
Hell on earth hits Kinglake
Greg Roberts
February 8, 2009 - 10:09PM
The end of the world reached the Victorian mountain town of Kinglake on Saturday, February 7.
Burnt out cars, many containing charred bodies, litter the road leading up to the town which now consists of a handful of still standing shops and hundreds of blackened piles of ash which used to be home to Kinglake's 1,500 residents.
As Victoria burnt on Saturday, a raging inferno raced through the state's central highlands, killing at least 12 in Kinglake itself and 10 in Kinglake West, leaving the once-idyllic community a charred ghost town.
Among the tragic stories to emerge from Kinglake were of a young boy and a girl burnt alive inside their home.
"The kids perished, their mother got out but she couldn't get the kids out," Kinglake resident Mary-Anne Mercuri told AAP.
Ms Mercuri also spoke of sisters in their 20s whose bodies were found in the front of their rented house.
"Two young girls around the corner from me were found in the front of their house. There's no way they could have got out. They would have tried to escape but there was nowhere to go."
The mother-of-three said that when the fire arrived it felt like exploding red burning bullets were being shot horizontally at them.
"These big burning chunks started falling from the sky, there was a lot of power behind them. I guess they were exploding parts of trees," Ms Mercuri said.
"We are lucky to be alive."
Her friend, Mandy Darkin, described the terrifying moment the fire arrived at Kinglake without warning.
"I was working at the local restaurant and we were all carrying on like nothing was going on but then word came that we should go home," the mother of five said.
"Soon after, I looked outside the window and said: `Whoa we are out of here, this is going to be bad'.
"I could see it coming. I just remember the blackness and you could hear it, it sounded like a train.
"I raced home in my car, straight into the driveway, placed all the kids in the house and within two minutes it was here and it was as dark as midnight at 4.30pm."
The 25km journey by road from Whittlesea to Kinglake is a cross between a trip into a war zone and a natural disaster zone.
The typical sunburnt landscape of southeast Australia gives way to a fire-burnt one with black scorched trees and earth.
Property after property is destroyed, burnt out cars line the side of the road, some sit stranded in the middle of the street, while a dead horse, carcass still smouldering, blocks the sporadic traffic.
The remains of two cars which collided head-on in their frantic bid to escape the blaze lie mangled on the road, and a five-car pile-up reveals the desperation of residents fleeing for their lives when the fire arrived.
It is believed six bodies were found in one car.
A media convoy being escorted to Kinglake was delayed at one stage as emergency crews removed another body from one of the burnt-out cars.
© 2009 AAP
Hell on Earth
UPDATE: 65 confirmed dead.
UPDATE: 'Worst day in history' Vic fires kill 14
Police expect the death toll to surpass 40.
All 14 of the confirmed deaths were in towns northwest of Melbourne - six people in one car were killed at Kinglake, four died at Wandong, three at Strathewen and one in Clonbinane.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said police would be able to undertake a more thorough search of burnt-out properties on Sunday with the fire in the area under control and cooler conditions.
"This is an absolute tragedy for the state and we believe the figure may even get worse," Mr Walshe told reporters late on Saturday.
"We base that on the fact we're only just getting into these areas now... to search buildings and properties these have been very very significant fires... the figure could get into the 40s."
Police spokesman Senior Constable Wayne Wilson said the clarification on a final death toll would take time.
"We have the official toll at 14. Obviously under the conditions we expect it to go higher, (but) we've got to go through these places in the daylight, where we can search them properly," he told ABC Radio.
"These sort of situations it does take time for clarification to come through... particularly when you are dealing with death.
"We do it as quickly as we can but we've got to do it in a methodical and accurate way."
Meanwhile, the bushfire burning around Kilmore was continuing to cause concern early on Sunday morning, despite a cool change moving in.
The Country Fire Authority (CFA) said the Kilmore East fire, burning in the Yarra Valley near Kinglake, was burning in a northeasterly direction.
The CFA said the wind change at 7.30pm (AEDT) on Saturday produced strong southwesterly gusts, moving the fire activity to a northeastern direction.
Weather conditions have turned favourable overnight and expected to continue to moderate.
But the CFA has warned communities of Kinglake, Kinglake West, Toolangie, Glenburn, Strathewen, Chum Creek, Dixons Creek, Castella, Pheasant Creek, Doreen, Yan Yean, Woodstock, Mernda, Mittons Bridge, Hurstbridge, St Andrews, Panton Hills, Arthurs Creek, Smiths Gully, Christmas Hills, Healesville, Yarra Glen, Coldstream, Tarrawarra and Steels Creek have been and may be directly impacted upon by this fire.
Saturday, 7 February 2009
47 degrees of perspiration
The hottest February day in recorded history here in Melbourne.Not only stinking hot but also a northerly wind coming straight from the central land mass that brought with it so much soil dust that at times reached 80 kms an hour!.
Also the whole sky was just filled with smoke all day.
The change eventually came through and tomorrow looks like being a much cooler day.
Thank god!
UPDATE:At least 30,000 hectares burnt out, started around 4km east of Kilmore and winds pushed it 30km to the east through Whittlesea, Wandong and into Kinglake. Was also threatening Broadford late Saturday night.
There are reports just in that it is feared that the death toll could be as high as 40.
Obama changes tone
"...In a fired-up, mostly impromptu speech to House Democrats in Williamsburg, Va., Thursday night, Obama accused his Republican critics of wanting to return to “the same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin.”“I don’t care whether you’re driving a hybrid or an SUV,” he said. "If you’re headed for a cliff, you have to change direction. That’s what the American people called for in November, and that’s what we intend to deliver.”..."
Full Story from 'Politico' here.
