Sunday 6 January 2013

Tasmania fires rage on as police search burned homes

Houses destroyed by a bushfire are seen in ruins in Dunalley, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Hobart, January 5, 2013. REUTERS-Chris Kidd-Pool

(Reuters) - Australian police and defense forces searched burned-out vehicles and homes in the towns worst hit by wildfires on the island of Tasmania, where more than 40 fires still raged on Sunday.
The blazes began on Thursday on the state's thinly populated southeastern coast, amid a fierce heatwave and strong winds.
The heat eased over the weekend, slowing the fires, but late on Sunday firefighters issued an emergency warning for residents in Taranna, 47 km (29 miles) east of the state capital Hobart, where a fire burning for more than three days threatened residents.

The national weather bureau warned that this weekend's relative mildness would be a brief reprieve, with extremely hot conditions set to return too much of the country early next week.
The fires that continue to burn in Tasmania have cut off communities and hampered efforts to search devastated areas.
through the process to confirm that there haven't been," Tilyard told the ABC.

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