AP: Army: Training blast may have sparked Colo. fire

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The Army says a wildfire burning more than 10 square miles on Fort Carson in Colorado may have been sparked by a training explosion.

AFP: Fears gale-force winds will whip up Australian wildfires

MELBOURNE (AFP) — Australian firefighters warned Sunday that gale-force winds forecast for this week threaten to fan wildfires that have killed 210 people in the country's scorched southeast.

Gusts of up to 150 kilometres (93 miles) an hour forecast for Tuesday may send fires racing beyond containment lines, Victoria state's Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin said.

NY TIMES: California: Sentence in 2007 Fire

One of five men accused of recklessly causing a wildfire that burned 53 homes and damaged 23 others in Malibu was sentenced to probation and community service. The man, Brian Franks, 28, was sentenced to five years of probation, during which he cannot return to the Corral Canyon area where the 2007 wildfire originated. He also must perform 300 hours of community service and must make restitution, Judge Leslie Dunn said.

BLOOMBERG: Australian Bushfire Toll Won’t Rise Much Above 201, Police Say

By Robert Fenner and Gemma Daley

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The death toll from Australia’s worst-ever bushfires is unlikely to increase significantly above 201 as people missing in the blazes have been accounted for, police said.

Authorities had warned that as many as 300 people may have been killed in the fires that swept through Victoria state Feb. 7-8, razing more than 1,800 houses and leaving 7,000 homeless.

“We are comfortable that all those unaccounted for have been accounted for,” Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said at a televised news conference today.

LA TIMES: As Australia fire toll hits 200, focus turns to survivors

Reporting from Kinglake, Australia -- Pamela Phoenix had five seconds to flee her home of 30 years where she'd raised her two daughters. That was more time than many here got.

She threw her handbag into the car and tracked the onrushing bush fire in her rear-view mirror: "A fireball chasing me," as she recalled it.

HERALD SUN: We have a failure to communicate

SINCE the onslaught of the horrific bushfires there has been criticism that we have no phone-based communication system for use in emergencies.

It has been reported that there has been a system "on the table since 2004", but that bureaucratic delays and bickering between the Commonwealth, states and territories are holding up progress.

A proven working model was presented to the national emergency management bodies in 2001 by myself and a technical expert from Western Australia.

REUTERS: Australian fires toll rises as arsonist faces court

CANBERRA (Reuters) - The death toll from Australia's bushfire disaster rose by eight to 189 on Monday with warnings the toll would continue to climb, as a court released details of a man charged with lighting one of the deadly fires.

The wildfires in the southern Victoria state wiped out entire small towns on February 7, destroyed more than 1,800 houses and left 7,000 people homeless in Australia's worst natural disaster in a century.

Police confirmed more bodies had been found in the ashes of the disaster, but said the final death toll would not be known until police could identify those killed.

REUTERS: Australia pushing for bushfire early warning system

SYDNEY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Australia's government is pushing to establish a bushfire early warning system after a week of blazes that killed at least 181 people, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Sunday.

Gillard told Channel Nine television that legislation was being prepared to set up the system after years of delays.

AP: Police: Suspect arrested in deadly Australian fire

YEA, Australia (AP) — A spokeswoman says police have arrested a man in connection to one of the recent deadly wildfires that swept southern Australia.

Victoria state police spokeswoman Marika Fengler confirmed Friday to The Associated Press that a man had been arrested, but would give no further details.

INDEPENDENT WEEKLY: Politics gives way to national mourning over fire disaster

Australians witnessed a rare thing this week - a parliament almost devoid of politics.

As the full horror of the Victorian bushfire disaster unfolded it became clear the daily political dogfight of question time was simply not appropriate.

Instead, a more human face emerged reflecting the national sentiment about one of the greatest peacetime losses of life in Australian history.

FIREHOUSE: Residents Return to Destroyed Homes in Australia

Residents of towns scorched off the map by the worst wildfires in Australia's history returned for the first time Wednesday to find twisted metal and blackened debris where their homes once stood.

BBC: Fire aftermath 'too distressing'

Australian police are stopping some residents of bushfire-hit areas from returning to their homes, saying the scenes would be too gruesome.

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Australia Fires Point to Risks of Shifting Population

The wildfires that have so far claimed more than 170 lives in Australia highlight vulnerabilities in a country where the population is spilling into rural areas already under stress from sometimes extreme weather conditions.

Police suspect arsonists played a role in starting the blazes in Australia, one of the worst natural disasters in the country's history.

BLOOMBERG: Australia Battles Bushfires as Death Toll Reaches 166 (Update2)

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Australian firefighters battled 31 blazes in Victoria as the death toll rose to 166 in the country’s worst-ever bushfires, prompting the state government to promise a review of emergency policies.

Five major fires were burning across Victoria, where more than 300,000 hectares (741,000 acres) of land were destroyed, 750 homes were razed and 3,700 people were left homeless, the state’s Country Fire Authority said. Winds as high as 24 knots (44 kilometers per hour) and showers are forecast in Victoria in the next two days, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said.

NY TIMES: Australia Police Confirm Arson Role in Wildfires

SYDNEY, Australia — The police confirmed Tuesday that at least one of the deadly wildfires that killed 173 people and left hundreds homeless over the weekend was set by an arsonist.

AP: 128 killed in Australia's worst fire disaster

WHITTLESEA, Australia (AP) — The death toll from Australia's wildfires has risen to 128, and authorities said they expect the number to go higher.

Authorities counted more victims overnight as they reached further into a huge zone scorched by blazes that ripped across southeastern Victoria state over the weekend.

Victoria police spokeswoman Marika Sengler said the confirmed death toll on Monday afternoon was 128.

AP: 25 dead in Australia's worst fires in decades

SYDNEY (AP) — Walls of flame roared across southeastern Australia, razing scores of homes, forests and farmland in the sunburned country's worst wildfire disaster in a quarter century. At least 25 people died and the toll could rise to more than 40, police said Sunday.

Witnesses described seeing trees exploding and skies raining ash as temperatures hit a record 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 C) on Saturday and combined with raging winds to create perfect conditions for uncontrollable blazes. A long-running drought in southern Australia — the worst in a century — has left forests extra dry.

Conditions eased Sunday, but several major fires were still posing a threat, officials said.

KDRO-TV: Email Print Text Size Ex-FEMA director Brown flees Colo. wildfires

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - Michael D. Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was among those forced to flee his home by the wildfires in Colorado's Boulder County.