The latest on the news tonight was that there were possibly 140 more bodies found today. Not to make it less serious, but the fires were spread over a wide area. I think 2 of them are suspected to be deliberately lit. One dickhead has been arrested for starting one while using an angle grinder on a 46C day! I don't know if his effort is counted as one of the deliberate ones.
Every year there are firs somewhere here in Australia it seems. These ones have been the worst ever, but they also follow 12 years of below average rainfall (aka drought) and where most of the homes were destroyed they are surrounded by eucalypt trees, Which are beautful and as symbolic of our country as anything. The problem is they excrete oil through their leaves and once it gets too hot in a fire the tree literally explodes into flames thanks to all the oil vapour. Then the entire area turns to a fire storm creating it's own wind and more heat.
The weather on Saturday was the hottest ever recorded in Victoria, and everyone I know was under a lot of stress just wondering where something was going to burn.
We live in a great country here but when these things happen it is hard to take.
One of my sisters evacuated her house with her 3 sons on Sat morning, one of the fires was on the next hill from her house on Sat arvo but which would only be a coulple of km away. The wind change that caused so much havoc elswhere blew the flames back away from her house. She lives on about 20 hectares and it is the most scenic of places, but you alway get the feeling the one day it is going to jump up and bite!
The surviors are a tough mob though and they will get through this. Maybe we will all pull together and forget some of our petty differences for a while.