More proof that Australians are of no value.
Aljazeera gives Australia more news coverage
Most Yanks dont know Austria and Australia are not joined
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/02/20092862342594649.html
.
News Asia-Pacific
.
'Arsonists' feeding Australia fires
Hundreds of homes have been destroyed in the fires across southeastern
Australia [Reuters]
Arsonists are responsible for some of Australia's worst-ever
wildefires that have left at least 84 people dead, officials have
said.
"These people are terrorists within our nation, they are the enemy
within and we have to be increasingly vigilant about them," said Mike
Rann, the governor of South Australia state on Sunday.
His comments came as firefighters battled against blazes which have
destroyed more than 640 homes and 100,000 hectares of forest and
farmland across the country's southeastern states.
Many people are believed to have died in their cars as they tried to
escape the blazes.
At least 20 per cent of the fires in South Australia state were
started by arsonists and another 20 per cent were the result of
"stupidity or negligence," Rann said.
Arsonists were also relighting fires that had been brought under
control, a Victoria's fire authority official said.
'Hell's fury'
Steve Warrington, a deputy chief of firefighting operations, told
local radio: "We know we do have someone who is lighting fires in this
community.
"While we often think it's spotting [embers spreading flames], we also
know that there are people lighting fires deliberately."
"Some of these fires have started in localities that could only be by
hand, it could not be natural causes," Kieran Walshe, the Victoria
state police deputy commissioner, said on Sunday.
More than 3,000 firefighters, together with army units, are struggling
to get control over dozens of blazes across three states: Victoria,
South Australia and New South Wales.
Witnesses described seeing trees exploding and ash raining from the
skies.
"Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria in the
last 24 hours," said Kevin Rudd, Australia's prime minister, as he
toured the burned-out region on Sunday.
Record temperatures
The southeastern Australian states have been gripped in a heatwave for
the past two weeks.
Fierce winds were fanning the fires and pushing them in unpredictable
directions in Victoria on Sunday, after temperatures reached a state
record of 47 degrees Celsius.
Forecasters said hot and uncertain weather conditions would continue
through the day on Sunday.
Blair Trewin, a climatologist with the National Climate Centre in
Melbourne, told Al Jazeera: "They are the most extreme conditions that
we have ever seen in historic record in parts of southeastern
Australia.
"We are seeing an upward trend in temperatures in Australia as
elsewhere in the world."
More than 600 houses have been destroyed by the fires.
The worst wildfires in recent memory killed 75 people and razed 2,500
homes in Victoria in 1983.
ABS radio covering live , still issuing warnings
http://www.abc.net.au/radio/
Six dead in Kinglake: 'The whole town is gone'
Posted 6 hours 15 minutes ago
Updated 6 hours 4 minutes ago
Firefighter mops up hot spots
CFA fire fighter Simon Mehegan mops up hot spots form bushfires
surrounding the Kinglake area, 70km north-east of Melbourne, Friday,
January 27, 2006. (AAP: Andrew Brownbill)
* Audio: 'The whole town is gone' (Local Radio)
http://www.abc.net.au/radio/
* Map: Kinglake 3763