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Australia wildfire death toll reaches 200
2009-02-17
MELBOURNE, Australia -- A judge launched an inquiry into the deadly Australian wildfires on Tuesday as authorities announced they would find ways to make the region safer before the next season of inevitable blazes. Police raised the death toll to 200 from the Feb. 7 fires that raged across southern Victoria state, saying it would climb further as more bodies were recovered from the devastation. A firefighter, meanwhile, was crushed by a falling branch -- the first death in the fire zone since the disaster. Former Victoria state Supreme Court Justice Bernard Teague outlined his first steps in what officials say will be one of the largest and most complex disaster investigations ever seen in Australia. The inquiry will determine the cause of the inferno and how to avoid a repeat of its tragic results. Teague's 40 million Australian dollar ($26 million) commission will submit its report before the next wildfire season in August so the government can take preventative steps. Teague said he will begin meeting fire victims and authorities within the next two weeks. Court-like hearings will follow with many hundreds of witnesses. "We want to get out and talk to members of the public to the maximum extent possible and at the end of six months make recommendations for changes in respect to those matters we perceive to be urgent and important," Teague told reporters. But the recommendations could take months to implement and the next wildfire season, normally starting in early November, will be looming. "Doing nothing is just not an option," state Premier John Brumby told reporters in Traralgon South, a township hit hard by the fires. "I think the public would think we're not doing our job if there aren't some stronger controls that are put in place going forward." The nightmarish blazes tore across Victoria with 400 fires destroying more than 1,800 homes and scorching about 1,500 square miles (3,900 square kilometers) of farms, forests and towns. Police suspect at least two of the fires were deliberately set, and have charged one man with arson causing death and lighting a wildfire. Brendan Sokaluk, 39, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years on the first charge and 15 years on the second. He was being held in protective custody to prevent revenge attacks against him. A class-action lawsuit was filed against electricity supplier SP AusNet, alleging that defective power lines caused losses and damage in connection with one of the fires. SP AusNet, which is 51 percent owned by the Singapore Power Group, said it would "vigorously defend" the claim. Firefighters continued to work in dangerous conditions in the smoky wastelands. On Tuesday night a firefighter was killed near Marysville after a tree branch fell on his truck, police spokeswoman Karla Dennis said in a statement. Authorities confirmed the remains of 11 more people found Tuesday near the town of Kinglake and surrounding areas. The identification process was still under way, and the death count of 200 will rise, police spokesman Marty Beveridge said. A senior police commander acknowledged that some of the victims would likely never be identified as their remains had disintegrated into ash in the intense flames. "Fire does terrible damage to bodies and the identification process is going to be a lengthy process and it's going to require scientific examination," police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe told The Associated Press. "In some cases it will be within a few weeks ... in other cases it may well be we're unable to be definitive about the identity."
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