Australia fires kill dozens, destroy homes and land

Australia's worst fire disaster has destroyed at least 700 homes, and burned a half-million acres of land, media reports said.

Extremely high temperatures and strong winds prompted bush fires that have savaged Victoria, and thousands of firefighters are still struggling to contain fires on several fronts, Australian and international reports said.

"Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria in the last 24 hours," reports quoted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as telling reporters as he toured the area of the fires on Sunday.

The premier said the army would deploy to assist emergency-service workers.

He said that a joint federal and state relief fund of $10 million was set up and he asked Australians to donate to the cause, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The Associated Press reported that temperatures on Saturday reached 117 degrees Fahrenheit, or 47 degrees Celsius. Temperatures dropped on Sunday but officials said that accompanying wind changes could push fires in unpredictable directions, AP reported.

The Australian quoted the deputy chief police commissioner of Victoria, Kieran Walshe, as saying that some of the fires are believed to have been deliberately lit.

Authorities expect the death toll to rise as they reach areas and homes they've been unable to get at due to the fires, media reports say.

The country's previous worst fire disaster was on Ash Wednesday in 1983, when 75 people died, reports say.

65 dead in Australia's worst fires in decades

Towering flames razed entire towns in southeastern Australia and burned fleeing residents in their cars as the death toll from the country's worst fire disaster in a quarter-century reached 65 on Sunday.

At least 640 homes were destroyed in Saturday's inferno when searing temperatures and wind blasts produced a firestorm that swept across a swath of the country's Victoria state, where all the deaths occurred.

"Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria in the last 24 hours," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters as he toured the fire zone on Sunday. "It's an appalling tragedy for the nation."

Thousands of exhausted volunteer firefighters were still battling about 30 uncontrolled fires Sunday in Victoria, officials said, though conditions had eased considerably.

Government officials said the army would be deployed to help out, and Rudd announced immediate emergency aid of 10 million Australian dollars ($7 million).

The tragedy echoed across Australia. Leaders in other states — most of which have been struck by their own fire disasters in the past — pledged to send money and volunteer firefighters. Funds for public donations opened Sunday quickly started swelling.

Underscoring Australia's size and its often-harsh landscape, thousands of residents of tropical northern Queensland state watched the blanket news coverage of the fires from homes soaked by floodwaters after weeks of drenching storms.

In Victoria, witnesses described seeing trees exploding and skies raining ash on Saturday as temperatures of up 117 F (47 C) combined with blasting winds to create furnace-like conditions.

Police said they were hampered from reaching burned-out areas to confirm details of deaths and property loss. But Victoria Police Commissioner Christine Nixon confirmed deaths at a dozen sites. The toll climbed higher in steps during the day, reaching 65 by Sunday evening and likely to rise further, said police spokeswoman Sgt. Creina O'Grady.

Australia's deadliest fires were in 1983, when blazes killed 75 people and razed more than 3,000 homes in Victoria and South Australia.