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A CONTINGENT of senior US fire personnel is expected to land in Victoria within 48 hours after an SOS call from the Australian Government. About 35 American firefighting operation chiefs, aviation managers, planning section chiefs and specialists in land rehabilitation will fly to Australia. "Australia and New Zealand have been wonderful neighbours and provided help in our time of need and we are happy to return that help," US National Interagency Fire Center spokesman Don Smurthwaite said. Australia, New Zealand and US firefighting agencies have a close working relationship and have participated in exchange programs in recent years. On the...

FAMILIES driven from their homes by the bushfires were sheltering last night in tent cities as troops joined the emergency response. Military-issue tents were erected in the towns of Yea and Alexandria, with troops handing out sleeping bags to those who could not return to their homes, or had no homes to return to. More than 450 soldiers fanned out across Victoria yesterday, bulldozing firebreaks, reopening roads and helping in the search for victims. They were part of a taskforce comprising engineers and reservists called up to bolster the ranks of over-stretched rescue workers. Brigadier Mike Arnold said military aircraft...

VICTORIA has suffered the most tragic bushfire disaster to have occurred on this continent throughout its period of human habitation. The deaths, loss of homes and businesses and the blow to our feeling of security will take decades to fade into history. The trauma will live with the victims, who, to a greater or lesser extent, are all of us. How could this happen when we have been told in a withering, continuous barrage of public relations that with technology and well-polished uniforms, we can cope with the unleashing of huge forces of nature. I have been a bushfire scientist...

PRISONERS could join the fire recovery effort in Victoria's northeast as a blaze continues to burn out of control near Beechworth. The Beechworth Correctional Centre has offered up to 30 inmates to work under supervision either at emergency staging areas or in the clean-up effort. Prison general manager Terry Jose said the prisoners were involved in community work as part of their reintegration program and were trained in fencing and tree clearing. The men, aged from their early 20s to mid 60s, could also help serving food to the region's weary firefighters. "Whatever's needed, we're a minimum security prison, we've...

THE death toll from the Victoria fires catastrophe leapt to 173 overnight as authorities found bodies clustered together where people fleeing the flames or trying to save their homes had been overwhelmed. Twenty-four fires were still burning early this morning and towns remained under threat as authorities moved deeper into the ruins of those communities hit in the fire's first wave, when more than 700 homes were lost. The death toll from the bushfires is certain to rise further. Bushfire relief funds were receiving $1 million in donations per hour yesterday, with $15 million pledged by last night. Victorian Premier...

THE death toll from the Victoria fires catastrophe leapt to 173 overnight as authorities found bodies clustered together where people fleeing the flames or trying to save their homes had been overwhelmed. Twenty-four fires were still burning early this morning and towns remained under threat as authorities moved deeper into the ruins of those communities hit in the fire's first wave, when more than 700 homes were lost. The death toll from the bushfires is certain to rise further. Bushfire relief funds were receiving $1 million in donations per hour yesterday, with $15 million pledged by last night. Victorian Premier...

SYDNEY, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Australian police treated the country's entire bushfire disaster zone as a crime scene on Tuesday as investigators combed through a blackened wasteland to find clues to the culprits behind the country's deadliest fires. Arson investigators began their work even as about 25 fires still raged across southern Victoria, including some of the hardest-hit areas north of Melbourne where so far 173 people have been confirmed dead, many burnt in cars and their own homes. "All of the fires have been treated as a crime scene," a police spokesman said, adding that arson investigators from up...

US President Barack Obama has phoned Kevin Rudd to offer his condolences over the bushfires and offer US help in fighting the blazes. "The president offered his prayers to the people of Australia and his condolences to the victims," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. "The president asked if the US could provide assistance to the government and people of Australia to assist with the fire." The call came as a contingent of senior US fire personnel prepared to fly to Australia to help battle the killer bushfires. About 35 American firefighting operation chiefs, aviation managers, planning section chiefs and...

Sad picture (not to mention the human suffering and deaths):

CONDITIONS for a perfect firestorm led to Australia's greatest natural disaster at the weekend. Drought, hurricane-force wind and record temperatures after a record heatwave combined to create Victoria's deadly Black Saturday bushfires. The University of Melbourne's senior lecturer in fire ecology and management, Kevin Tolhurst, said conditions on Black Saturday were some of the worst the world had seen for a potential outbreak. He said the fires were so hot the energy they released could have supplied Victoria with electricity for at least two years. Up to 80,000 kilowatts per metre of heat was expelled as the fires raged on...

SHAWN Stavang is the saviour in the sky for hundreds of Victorian bushfire survivors. Flying the famous Elvis Helitak above the deadly flames, he provides hope for those desperately trying to defend their properties. In his 16 years of fighting bushfires, the Californian has never seen devastation on a scale like this. "On Saturday it didn't matter how many aircraft you had," he said. "There were just too many fires. I don't know how they all got started, but they're just everywhere. "I started working on the ground driving a fuel truck to the fires in 1992 in the US...

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has already spoken of “mass murder’’ after investigators said arsonists may have set off some of the wildfires which have already claimed 181 lives. Now, there’s an even more chilling question: could it be the work of jihadis? Experts on terrorism aren’t ruling it out. A report in Australian newspaper The Age points out that US intelligence channels earlier this year identified a website calling on Muslims in Australia, the US, Europe and Russia to “start forest fires”, claiming “scholars have justified chopping down and burning the infidels’ forests when they do the same to...

Fire crews are worried major blazes burning out of control near Melbourne could join to create one massive bushfire. Firefighters are working on containment lines around the Maroondah-Yarra fires and the Bunyip fires. At this stage no communities are under threat and 18 kilometres separate the two fire complexes, but lightning has caused spot fires between them. CFA deputy chief fire officer Steve Warrington says there are fears a wind change could push them together. "There are a number of settlements in that particular area, if you look at the proximity of Powelltown, which pretty well sits right in the...

"INCENDIARY" abortion law reforms last year that made Victoria "the baby-killing state" are responsible for the devastating bushfires, controversial Christian leader Danny Nalliah said yesterday. "God's protection has been taken off the state, and Satan is having a go at the nation," Mr Nalliah, senior pastor of Catch the Fire Ministries, told The Age. Mr Nalliah's Australia Day prayer rallies have been supported by former prime minister John Howard and former treasurer Peter Costello. Mr Costello delivered a televised address to Mr Nalliah's Australia Day prayer meeting last month. Mr Costello yesterday rejected Mr Nalliah's abortion explanation for the fires...

PREMIER John Brumby says police are close to arresting an arsonist wanted for what's been called the "murder" of 21 people in Gippsland. More than 400,000 hectres have so far been razed in fires across the state, destroying more than 1033 properties. Questioned on the progress of inquiries by Taskforce Phoenix, Mr Brumby said: "I believe they are close to finalising investigations." Mr Brumby had just met Yvonne Hammer, who lost her home in the small town of Callignee, 175km east of Melbourne, where at least 11 people died. Mrs Hammer broke down as she told the Premier: "It's complete...

THE United States will send 60 experts to help in recovery efforts after the worst bushfires in Victorian history. The support team was requested by Emergency Management Australia (EMA) in response to the ongoing Victoria fires, and should arrive on Sunday. The team will include experts on burned area rehabilitation, incident management, aviation support and mid-and senior-level management.

A thirsty koala rescued from the Australian wild fires has become a star on YouTube, the video-sharing website, emerging as a lucky survivor of the disaster that has killed more than 180 people. Firefighter Dave Tree stumbled across the female marsupial, nicknamed Sam, as he was battling blazes in Victoria state and was amazed when the parched animal allowed him to approach and guzzled water from a bottle he offered. “Things do survive the bush fire ... are you alright buddy?” he asked in footage captured by a fellow volunteer on a mobile phone. The cuddly appearance of the koala...

SYDNEY (AP) - Kangaroo corpses lay scattered by the roadsides while wombats that survived the wildfire's onslaught emerged from their underground burrows to find blackened earth and nothing to eat. Wildlife rescue officials on Wednesday worked frantically to help the animals that made it through Australia's worst-ever wildfires but they said millions of animals likely perished in the inferno.

Angry residents last night accused local authorities of contributing to the Victorian bushfire toll by failing to let residents chop down trees and clear up bushland that posed a fire risk. During question time at a packed community meeting in Arthurs Creek on Melbourne's northern fringe, Warwick Spooner — whose mother Marilyn and brother Damien perished along with their home in the Strathewen blaze — criticised the Nillumbik council for the limitations it placed on residents wanting the council's help or permission to clean up around their properties in preparation for the bushfire season. "We've lost two people in my...

Pictured: The badly burned koalas who became best friends after surviving Australia's deadliest bushfires By Mail Foreign Service 11th February 2009 A love story between two badly burned koalas rescued from Australia's deadliest bushfires has provided some heart-warming relief after days of devastation and the loss of over 180 lives. The story of Sam and her new boyfriend Bob emerged after volunteer firefighter Dave Tree used a mobile phone to film the rescue of the bewildered female. She was found cowering in a burned out forest at Mirboo North, 90 miles southeast of Melbourne.