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CANBERRA - Victoria is today bracing for another fearsome day, with four serious fires still burning and forecasts of 40C temperatures, hot, dry winds, and lightning that could set new fires.
More New Zealand firemen joined crews from four states manning an 1100km front, backed by aircraft and bulldozers, in a bid to contain flames that could break out and threaten more lives and property.
The State Government has ordered about 200 schools to close today, warned residents potentially in the path of renewed firestorms to either prepare to defend their homes or leave well ahead of disaster, and told visitors to stay away from parks and forests near areas at risk.
Although conditions will not be as extreme as the weather that unleashed the Black Saturday inferno, the risk remains extreme across large areas of the state.
"Our message is very clear," Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Elspin said.
"Friday is expected and forecast to be a very bad day [and] we need that message to be heard by the whole Victoria community.
"We need everybody to be on their guard."
So far 210 deaths have been confirmed, but police teams are still searching for more victims and have appealed for people to register the names of relatives and friends to allow cross-checking against a Red Cross register.
More than 6500 people have been found by matching missing persons reports with the register.
Insurance claims for property destroyed by fire - including 2029 houses - have already topped A$800 million ($1 billion), and the total bill is expected to exceed A$1 billion.
And as another 50 New Zealanders joined more than 1100 firefighters from other states and overseas helping to battle the Victorian fires, a fourth interstate volunteer has been taken to hospital and was yesterday reported to be in an induced coma.
South Australian Ian Kleinig, 39, who was late yesterday in a serious but stable condition, was struck by a falling branch as he fought flames near Alexandra, northeast of Melbourne. His wife and two sons, aged 9 and 11, have been flown to his bedside in Melbourne, ABC radio reported. Last week a Canberra firefighter was killed.
And police yesterday charged two men with looting homes among the 12 destroyed or damaged by Black Saturday fires in Melbourne's southeastern suburb of Narre Warren South.
"A number of homes were looted while the fires were burning and people were fighting the fires or had evacuated," acting Sergeant Ed Keon-Cohen told the Herald Sun.
Last night, fire teams were working furiously to prepare for today's potentially lethal blast, bolstering containment lines and deploying trucks, earthmovers, planes and helicopters around huge fronts.
The 4500 firefighters are also preparing for renewed outbreaks in areas where fires have been brought under control, and for thunderstorms that could shoot lightning into other areas so far untouched.
"We've done some fantastic work over the last two weeks," Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Stuart Ord told the ABC. "But [today] is just going to test us. It's going to put pressure more so in some places than in other places. We'll do our best to ensure that none of these fires make a run."
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts temperatures in the low to mid 30s across much of the state today, but soaring up to more than 40C across the north and west of the state. Hot northwest winds of up to 30km/h are expected for many areas, changing to stronger southerlies and possible thunderstorms later in the day.
