Updated information
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...08/2485317.htm.
It is pretty much normal each summer to have scrub and forest burn.
It is not unusual to lose sheds, fences, livestock, and maybe a few isolated farmhouses.
In this fire we are losing whole towns. This is very rare - not since the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 have we seen the like, although the Canberra fires of 2003 came close.
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Raylene Kincaide from Narbethong north-east of Melbourne says her home has been destroyed and there is little left of the town.
"Everyone we know has lost everything they had - it's not nice," she said. "I've been in Ash Wednesday but this is probably worse."
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Quote:
ABC Local Radio caller Georgina, whose husband battled to save the town of Strathewen with CFA volunteers, says the town has been devastated by the devastating fires.
She fears many of the town's residents may have lost their lives.
"It's just absolute devastation and people have seen things today that have been absolutely horrific," she said.
"There's a lot of families in Strathewen that we haven't been able to account for.
"The school's gone, the hall's gone... some people left it too late. We've lost friends, and we're just waiting for more - children, loved ones."
She says the town is largely inaccessible as fallen logs and debris block the main roads, but has urged trapped residents to remain optimistic.
"They're just so cut off out there and we just wait for daylight now and hope that there's nothing out there left to burn," she said.
"They're calling out to houses and they can't hear people answering. Hang in there anybody that's listening and still cut off because they're coming."
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Quote:
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The Country Fire Authority says there is "possibly one building left standing" in Marysville, after relentless bushfires engulfed the town, north of Melbourne.
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Fuck.