Shit, yeah, it seems to be getting worse. I seriously hope all your Aussie Pixies aren't in it.

I hope my previous post will be seen by all concerned as the feeble attempt to lighten the mood that it was...of course this is a human tragedy beyond my ability to comprehend.

OF, just enjoy your walkabout & stay away from the hot spots, OK?

It's 173 and still rising.

Some areas are still too hot to enter, so a final figure is just a guess.

Pick a toll, any toll.

:wtp:

I'm still putting the pics together, then deciding I'll use different pics.

It'll happen, old man.

We'll be waiting. :)

Well hi all, I am actually close to one of the hot spots here. I am south of the bunyip state park. I am staying in gembrook. Gembrook's fire status was down graded from urgent to alert status. The best place for pics is definately on the cfa's website.

www.cfa.vic.gov.au

there is also the dse site

www.dse.vic.gov.au

The sites give you the location of the fire and it's size and severity and whether or not they are under control.

The worst hit area's were whittlesea and kinglake. Whittlesea has had the highest fatality rate. Just for a comparison:

Ash wednesday (1983) 75 fatalities.
Ash wednesday burned though a much larger area and actually crept north into NSW.

This fire has had 175 fatalities and is still climbing as they have only just gotten into some area's to extract bodies etc.

There have been donations coming in to the fire relief fund and it up to $15mil so far. Which for the obvious reasons will be used for rebuilding alot of these burnt out communities.

I will keep you all updated as to any new developments. For the most part those 2 sites I have put up are the most up to date and are the best source for information. Also www.ninemsn.com.au has news feeds running in regards to the destruction and devastation. It has been likened to a war zone and even a halucaust.

Just heard the toll is now at 183......So tragic

Thanks Mark for the update. We are all following this tragedy and hoping the numbers will stop climbing. :wish:

It hasn't. As of the news report I read this morning, the "official" count was at 181, with 'at least' 50 bodies not included in the 'official' count (yet). The claim was also advanced taht Australian official were nearly ready to release facial photos (presumably composites from sketches) of the arsonist(s) thought responsible for some of the fires.

...but there was no word on how many of the fires were under control.

That is incorrect...Kinglake won that unfortunate title

Quoted from News.com.au

Also the bushfire tragedy fund has more than doubled over night. I just saw the news it is at almost $34mil.

Also thank you for that Sharni, as we here the news so quick it is hard to hear what area had the highest hit. The fire near us has not changed it's status overnight. It is still at alert only status.

Thanks for the update, Mark. Please stay safe.

Well we have some of the CFA guys from SA as well here in VIC helping us. Obviously not so far east as gembrook. They would be in the northen areas worst hit.

South Australia was affected in the Ash Wednesday fires, too. I remember ash raining down on my suburban high school.