By By Paul Wallis Feb 9, 2009 in Environment The all time record for fatalities on Australian soil was set in 1942, when Darwin was bombed by the Japanese. So far it’s been impossible to establish an exact toll from the fires, and the “Hell” fires are still raging. Australian bushfires: 108 dead, murder charges likely Australia PM Kevin Rudd calls bushfires 'mass murder' Firebugs in Australian Bush Fires Labeled Mass Murderers More Some people want to stay in the area, understandably enough, waiting for news of missing people or to be able to go back and check out the remains of their lives. 4000 people are now known to be in need of emergency assistance. The community response has been quick and strong. $7 million were donated around Australia over the weekend. Corporate Australia was quick to pitch in, with communications giant Telstra contributing $500,000 alone. Insurers state they’re ready to assist all bushfire victims. The Federal social security agency Centrelink has been authorized to make immediate cash payments to those in need. In Federal Parliament, even the politicians were speechless. Nobody wanted to talk, and for the first time since the Bali bombings, Question Time was canceled. The Churchill fire, which killed 19 people, is now confirmed to have been deliberately lit. Survivors of the fire sent in a lot of pictures which show how utterly the fires obliterated the areas they passed through. Temperatures of bushfires have been known to hit the 800-1000C range. Radiant heat from temperatures like that can kill people at a distance. The first shot in the Daily Telegraph’s As news, the fires took everyone by surprise. The news sources were having trouble dealing with the changing situation, which was moving faster than they could publish. Now, they’re getting a lot more efficient, and whole web pages are being created with updates and mixed media. The ABC, which was first on the scene with helicopter footage on the first day of the fires, (which really did look like a scene from hell, miles of red landscape and smoke) has also put together a In one shot, it’s like a red filter is over the camera. The entire scene is red from the fires. The street lights are on, and the scene extends to the hills some miles away. From space, the smoke from the fires looks like a weather front. The area covered by the long plume of smoke is about 150 miles long and 50 deep. You can also see what we mean by “drought”. The whole state is dry as dust. The brown areas are supposed to be greener, and much patchier, with different types of growth. The dark green areas are actual forests, and there’s nothing much between them. Chris V Thangham was kind enough to provide some With droughts come fires like this. This drought is the worst in history, by far, and these ferocious fires are becoming more common. This is environmental history in the making. Let’s hope the page turns soon. Several towns are still under threat. Assessing the damage hasn't been easy. Around 24 fires remain out of control with 52 still burning, as the shock is replaced by horror. 750 homes have been destroyed. Tent cities are rising for the homeless. There’s a mix of organization and improvisation, although give the scale of the problem, they’ve managed to get some sort of order pretty quickly.Some people want to stay in the area, understandably enough, waiting for news of missing people or to be able to go back and check out the remains of their lives. 4000 people are now known to be in need of emergency assistance.The community response has been quick and strong. $7 million were donated around Australia over the weekend. Corporate Australia was quick to pitch in, with communications giant Telstra contributing $500,000 alone. Insurers state they’re ready to assist all bushfire victims. The Federal social security agency Centrelink has been authorized to make immediate cash payments to those in need.In Federal Parliament, even the politicians were speechless. Nobody wanted to talk, and for the first time since the Bali bombings, Question Time was canceled.The Churchill fire, which killed 19 people, is now confirmed to have been deliberately lit. The arson issue won’t be going away. Last night someone said half the state had been declared a crime scene, and that wasn’t too far wrong. Several towns are now officially classified as crime scenes. The arsonists can consider themselves lucky these aren’t the old pioneering days.Survivors of the fire sent in a lot of pictures which show how utterly the fires obliterated the areas they passed through. Temperatures of bushfires have been known to hit the 800-1000C range.Radiant heat from temperatures like that can kill people at a distance. The first shot in the Daily Telegraph’s gallery looks like the sun’s rising. It really is a fire, although it takes time to comprehend.As news, the fires took everyone by surprise. The news sources were having trouble dealing with the changing situation, which was moving faster than they could publish. Now, they’re getting a lot more efficient, and whole web pages are being created with updates and mixed media. The Daily Telegraph, which usually uses a single page format, came up with a larger page full of current and related material.The ABC, which was first on the scene with helicopter footage on the first day of the fires, (which really did look like a scene from hell, miles of red landscape and smoke) has also put together a slide show which illustrates the power of the fires.In one shot, it’s like a red filter is over the camera. The entire scene is red from the fires. The street lights are on, and the scene extends to the hills some miles away. From space, the smoke from the fires looks like a weather front.The area covered by the long plume of smoke is about 150 miles long and 50 deep. You can also see what we mean by “drought”. The whole state is dry as dust. The brown areas are supposed to be greener, and much patchier, with different types of growth. The dark green areas are actual forests, and there’s nothing much between them.Chris V Thangham was kind enough to provide some additional images from Boston. com . You can see the temperatures involved from the melted alloy running like mercury on the ground. The temperatures required to produce the effects in these images are colossal.With droughts come fires like this. This drought is the worst in history, by far, and these ferocious fires are becoming more common. This is environmental history in the making. Let’s hope the page turns soon. More about Australia, Bushfires 2009, Fatalities More news from australia bushfires 2009 fatalities