Australian Wildfires - Pics

Awesome!

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/02/bushfires_in_victoria_australi.html

OMG!

I would be scared to death to live anywhere near fires like that. Very scary.

Incredible! It was hot enough to melt car rims!

Not only have I lived near them, I have fought them too. Now THAT is scarey

Very sad.

Good Lord! That is some terrible loss of property and life. People just do not realize what utter devastation a fire causes. All of those homes, gone. I'm shocked.

The worst bit it that it is still going......

Here are some more pictures of the bush fires...but be warned there are some particularly gruesome pictures (including bodies) .

http://tools.goldcoast.com.au//photo-gallery/photo_gallery_popup.php?category_id=3791&offset=0

My thoughts are with the people there.

God help those people. I pray this will end soon with no more loss of life. I cannot imagine the horror some of these people and animals endured.

Terrible......

Thanks to all who passed messages of both hope and concern along with prayers.

The fire are still going but it is hoped they will be at least under control by the weekend.

The toll continues to rise with 181 confirmed dead but that is expected to go higher. The fire damage has made forensic identification more difficult and progress is slow there due to the volume of work involved.

At last count there were around 5 000 people homeless and the homes lost is around the 1 000.

Two people have been arrested on suspicion of lighting some of the fires.
I think this is as much for their own safety because they would be torn to pieces if they were not under Police guard.

Pete.