Victoria fires: 173 dead, towns ruined, police chase arsonists

Victoria fires: 173 dead, towns ruined, police chase arsonists

By staff writers
NEWS.com.au

February 10, 2009

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POLICE are hunting down the arsonist believed to be responsible for lighting one of the worst of the Victoria fires.

Police have confirmed that they believe they know the identity of the man who allegedly contributed to the Churchill-Jeeralang blaze in Gippsland.  Twenty-one people have died in that region.

But the Country Fire Authority said the firefront could have included towns further north, including Kinglake, St Andrews and Strathewen, where dozens more died in the firestorm.

The fires killed 173 people according to the last official death toll.  The death toll from the bushfires was certain to rise further.  

Police said they could release a photo of the suspect in the next couple of days.  Yesterday, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd likened lighting the blazes to mass murder.

Twenty-four fires were still burning and towns remained under threat as authorities moved deeper into the ruins of more than 700 homes which were lost.

Bushfire relief funds were receiving $1 million in donations per hour yesterday, with $15 million pledged by last night.

Victorian Premier John Brumby has vowed to rebuild the razed communities, but as the toll mounts the grim fates of many residents are becoming clearer.  Thirty-five people died in Kinglake alone, while 22 deaths had been confirmed in St Andrews out of a population of just 1500.

Strathewen, with only 200 people prior to the bushfires, had lost 30 residents in the last official count.  Firefighters dubbed the tiny town the "Valley of Death".  A bridge out of town was damaged, leaving those still there as the firestorm swept through with little chance of survival.

Three bodies were found crowded in a bath.  The victims may have hoped the water would save them but instead it would have boiled in the intense heat.

Further north, in Flowerdale, residents consider themselves the forgotten town.  While authorities have been working their way into other towns, Flowerdale's survivors have been left to cope on their own.

"It's like we got left off the map. A lot of the locals are really upset. It kind of felt very lonely, as if we didn't f---ing exist," one angry resident told The Australian, whose reporters were the first into the town since Saturday night.

Morgue

A temporary morgue was set up at Victoria's State Coronial Services Centre to accommodate the mounting toll of victims.  Coroner Jennifer Coate said 101 victims had already been received into the facility.

She said the makeshift morgue was similar to the one set up during the London terrorist bombings.  "We at the State Coronial Services Centre have an enormous and complex task ahead of us."

Concerned relatives were using the Herald Sun's bushfire message board to post pleas for information about the whereabouts of loved ones.  Some had been reunited, while for others the agonising wait for news remained.

Tough work

Specialist teams used in the aftermath of the Bali bombings were continuing the gruesome task of identifying victims as hundreds of reinforcement firefighters were heading from interstate to relieve crews which had been working nearly non-stop since the emergency began.

The army now has more than 460 defence force personnel working alongside emergency services.

An additional 170 are playing a search role.

"They face the task of finding dead bodies and that's happening on a regular basis," Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said.

"One reservists came across six bodies last evening.

"This is really challenging work.  These are civilian volunteers and it's a reminder to the broader community of the important role our reservists play in the Australian Defence Force," he said.

Bushfire policy

Mr Brumby said yesterday a royal commission would be held into the fires and the bushfire policy that promoted either leaving early or staying to defend your property.

"I think our policy has served us well in what I call normal conditions," Mr Brumby said last night.

"These are unbelievable circumstances."

In Marysville, Mr Brumby said it looked as though a bomb had gone off in the once picturesque town.

"I have never seen anything like this in my life.  It is a mixture of fire, hurricane and cyclone - houses, trees just snapped in half."

For the first time, Mr Brumby linked the fires to global warming: "There's clear evidence now that the climate is becoming more extreme."

- With the Herald Sun and wires