166 Confirmed Dead In Australia - More Fatalities Expected As Fires Flare Up - AFP

[hatrack]

threatened to engulf a dozen more Australian communities Tuesday, leaving a grim legacy of charred homes, bodies and shattered townships. As troops and firefighters struggled to douse the flames, Victoria state's Country Fire Authority issued a series of alerts warning of possible flare-ups across the southeast state.

Shifting winds threatened to send the deadliest fires in Australian history beyond containment lines hacked out by thousands of firefighters, most of them exhausted volunteers who have been working for days with little rest. The firestorm has engulfed entire towns and wiped out families, triggering both heartache and anger after police revealed some were set by arsonists.

Victorian Premier John Brumby said the fires would inevitably claim more lives as the crisis continues, and early Tuesday the Australian Associated Press (AAP) quoted police as saying the death toll had risen to 166 from 131. "There is a huge effort to get them under control (but) tragically we will have more deaths later this week," Brumby told public television.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said any arsonists involved were guilty of "mass murder." "This is of a level of horror that few of us anticipated," he said, choking with emotion as he recounted the messages of support from around the world.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/090209153629.46ft4ag6.html

[Night_Nurse]

1. Yeah, they're saying that some of these fires were..

set deliberately. WTF.

[defendandprotect]

2. Yeah . . . 'cause we wouldn't want to wake up to Global Warming . . . would we???

[enlightenment]

3. That's a rather thoughtless comment, don't you think?

The man isn't denying climate change, but the evidence in several of the fires is pointing very strongly toward arson - and the deaths that resulted in those cases is murder. That's what he's saying.

[defendandprotect]

4. There has been a long spell of 116 degrees or more . . .

188 dead at the least --- and you're suggesting that it would take a human being

to begin a fire there?

Global Warming is about to burn up the planet -- the pollution we have generated

is choking us. Gas-guzzlers are making our children ill.

It is "thoughtless" to understand this situation as "Doug 'n Dave" did it!

[enlightenment]

6. I am not suggesting anything.

The Prime Minister and the Australian Institute of Criminology are suggesting that SOME of the fires were deliberately set. Off hand, I suspect that they know more about it than you or I do.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7878412.stm

Police in Australia's southern Victoria believe arsonists started some of the fires that have killed more than 130 people, and investigations have started to try to track down the perpetrators. But, similar cases in Australia and the US indicate that it could be a long and frustrating process. (my emphasis)

Neither the PM or the AIC are saying that climate had nothing to do with the fires; they are saying SOME of the fires were deliberate.

I don't deny global climate change. The Australians' are not denying global climate change.

Try reading and thinking critically, rather than leaping to conclusions based on your personal ideological perspective. Until then, yes, you are responding in a knee-jerk and thoughtless fashion.

[defendandprotect]

8. "Some" is a distraction from what is actually going on in Australia . . .

A consumer of news also has the responsibility to THINK about what they are reading.

We've also heard the same thing here in the US re some of the fires ---

and I'm sure you recall what has happened in Florida and California --- ?

but overall what is causing the burning of the planet is Global Warming.

[enlightenment]

9. Whatever, champ.

You've got your rant on and can't see anything else. Sometimes a word means just what it says. They are having horrible bushfires in Victoria. The extreme heat and drought is most likely evidence of global climate change - and it certainly has exacerbated conditions in that state.

That does not change the very real possibility, raised by the Australian authorities based on past experience, that some of the fires were deliberately set. The drought and extreme heat undoubtedly made it easier to set the fires and intensified the result.

Life is not a one-act play. Many things happen concurrently; they do not always rise from the same source simply because they occur at the same time. They may interact, as in the case of the fires in Victoria, or they may not. You may choose to view life through a straw, seeing only what you want to see and ascribing all events to a single source. That's your choice.

It isn't mine.

[defendandprotect]

10. "The extreme heat and drought is most likely evidence of global warming"---

"Global Warming" is the correct term because it makes clear that the HEAT IS ON ---

When heat is introduced into the atmosphere, we get chaotic weather conditions.

'Climate Change' can suggest something natural happening and not man-made ---

Global Warming IS man-made.

The "real possibility" that someone set "some" fires is not being denied ---

It is a distraction, however, from reality of Global Warming.

[hedgehog]

5. I wonder if people living in fire threatened areas in Australia and the

American west need to start having emergency covers handy. I'm thinking of the aluminized blankets the American fire fighters carry to protect themselves if they get caught by a fast moving flame front. I think the phrase used is "shake and bake", but these can be life savers. The problem is that if people depend on them and refuse to evacuate, more people may be hurt or killed.

[XemaSab]

11. Americans and Australians have different fire policies

I believe the Australian policy is called "stay or go," where people are allowed to stay and protect their homes, but with the understanding that they may die doing so.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. NASA Photos

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1188

Earth Observatory

acquired February 9, 2009

acquired February 7, 2009