Australians tell of 'great firebomb' claiming their homes - Summary

Sydney - Shell-shocked residents of Toodyay on Australia's west coast told Wednesday of losing their homes - and nearly losing their lives - as a forest fire rampaged through their town. At least 37 houses were lost Tuesday in Toodyay, a farming community 80 kilometers north of Perth, in a blaze sparked by falling power lines.

"It just came up the hill so quickly," resident Darren Thompson told local television. He said it took the fire 20 to 30 seconds to travel 500 meters.

The fire, propelled by high winds and temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius, was kept at bay by volunteer firefighters backed by water-bombing helicopters so residents could get out.

"There is no doubt they saved lives last night," West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said when praising the bravery of the 200-strong brigade. "This is a devastating fire with great destruction."

Beverley Phillips, 58, was left with just her car, her dog and her cat after her house burned down.

"I had to leave everything," she told local news agency AAP. "All those photos of my daughter when she was a baby, of my mother - she died last July - the beautiful garden. They are the things you can't replace."

Another Toodyay resident, Caroline Coat, described a "roaring bonfire" devouring her home as she looked back from her car.

"You have got no idea how bad it was," she said, picturing the fingers of flame as "rivers of lava" that incinerated her property and her possessions.

"I was just glad I got out when I did," she said.

Forest fires are annual events in the southern hemisphere summer. Four years ago, 3 million hectares of forest were blackened - an area three times the size of Britain.

In February, forest fires north of Melbourne claimed 173 lives, destroyed 2,000 properties and blackened 430,000 hectares.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301473,australians-tell-of-great-firebomb-claiming-their-homes--summary.html.