Fires burn bright

All jokes aside, this is pretty horrific. From Reuters: Mass deaths feared in sealed-off Australia town:

KINGLAKE, Australia (Reuters) - Surviving residents of Marysville, where up to 100 more people are feared killed in Australia's bushfires, are still being kept out of town to shield them from traumatic scenes there, authorities said on Wednesday.

The rising death toll in Australia's deadliest bushfires now stands at 181, but could exceed 200, authorities say. If the Marysville deaths are confirmed, the toll may reach 300.

A firefighter who drove through Marysville only 10 minutes before the firestorm hit on Saturday night said people banged on the side of his water tanker, begging his team to help people trapped in burning houses.

"The toll is going to be massive," fireman John Munday said.

Victoria state Premier John Brumby said Marysville, which has been off-limits since the weekend fires, would remain so because of the likelihood of ghastly sights in the once idyllic town.

"There are still many deceased people in homes," he said, adding between 50 and 100 may be dead in Marysville.

"If people return to those areas ... and there are still deceased persons there ... the impact would be quite devastating."

Forensic police sifted through ash and the twisted remains of houses in Marysville, Kinglake and other towns razed by fires trying to identify the hundreds killed.

"You have to go street by street, house by house. There are many houses that have collapsed," said Victoria state Police Commissioner Christine Nixon, adding it would take weeks to complete the search.

Some of those killed were burned so badly by fires that reached four storeys high they may never be identified.

"In some of these cases, it will be weeks before positive identification can be made and, I'm advised by the coroner, it may be virtually impossible to officially identify the bodies," Brumby told reporters.

The fires tore through rural towns north of Melbourne on Saturday night, fanned by strong winds and heatwave temperatures. Melbourne's temperature on Saturday hit 46.4 degrees Celsius (115.5 degrees Fahrenheit), a record for the city.

Police have launched the nation's biggest arson investigation, "Operation Phoenix," and posted a A$100,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone for deliberately starting a bushfire.

The tragedy is the worst natural disaster in Australia in 110 years. The previous worst bushfire was the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 that killed 75 people.

I can't imagine what it would have been like to live through that or to have to go home to that. If it really is arsonists' work, then may God have mercy on their souls. And Reuters thinks they're likely to be young boys (Reuters: Australian arsonists likely to be young and male). It's a bit of a case of, "Um, duh!"

I think we all know the kind of kids they are. They're the kind of kids who'd try drugs just for bragging rights and who are just a step away from joining the Darwin Awards if you double dog dared them to. It's probably those kind of kids who started the London fire in 1666.