horror

When I posted last night the toll was at 35. By the time I'd left for soccer 20 minutes later it was up to 40. Driving home from soccer an hour after that it was 65.

This morning it's at 108.

Brian Naylor's dead.

I knew he lived at Kinglake, but I was still shocked.

I mean, Brian Naylor. He was the voice of Channel 9 news for years. Even I, who barely watched commercial television growing up, knew who he was and his voice. I think for most Melburnians his death (and that of his wife) will be shocking. People like him don't die like that.

Except they do.

Last night ABC news was broadcasting from the Whittlesea Community Activity Centre. Channel 9 was broadcasting from the Whittlesea Showgrounds - that'd be where we had our engagement party. I actually recognised the place before the location title came up. Dean has been recognising faces of Kinglake survivors on the news.

Neither of us has recognised names from the deaths yet.

Kinglake is still so shocking to me. There was nothing and then it was gone it felt like. I was obsessively listening to the radio from midday until 9pm on Saturday, and in that time Kinglake was barely mentioned. It was so quick. When I rang Dean about the alerts for his parent's town it wasn't mentioned. It was all towards Whittlesea. By the time Dean got home at 6ish the town had burned. I don't know if there were sudden gusts or a wind change or what happened, but there was almost no warning for people up there.

Dean was wondering if "Whittlesea" was being used to cover Kinglake as well (it's a shire as well as a town, not confusing at all really), but the CFA are usually very specific about localities. They kind of have to be.

One change I noticed in the updates on ABC yesterday as distinct from Saturday was that they're now telling people when not to leave. As in, "Residents of X town, the fire is imminent, properties have already been lost. It is too late to leave - if you don't want to be alone and can safely make your way to a nearby neighbour's property do so. Otherwise, stay inside, shield yourself from heat. I repeat,..."

All said so clearly and calmly. Horror.

I'm wondering if that's a direct result of Kinglake and Marysville.

Oh Dear God. 108. And still rising. And still active fires going, now threatening the areas around Beechworth. The Bunyip fire is still going, they're hoping to contain it before Friday when temperatures rise again. The Churchill fire is still going. The Bendigo fire is contained. The Kilmore fire is still going.

108.

Edit: I should point out that the showgrounds were being used by the CFA as a staging ground for the Kinglake fires, and the news crews were there partly because that's where the information was and partly because they couldn't get into Kinglake because of road closures. The township of Whittlesea was pretty much missed, thank God.

120

126.

Things that have left me reeling.

The number of burns victims admitted to hospitals. At one stage they ran out of morphine. They ran out of morphine. On top of that, gossip has it today that the theatre air-conditioning broke down on the Saturday due to the heat. And so did the lifts. *sigh*

The numbers of deaths and how spread out they are.

"Victoria Police have confirmed that 33 people died in Kinglake, nine were killed in Kinglake West and seven died in Strathewan.

Six people were killed in St Andrews, 10 in Marysville, eight in Narbethong and three in Taggerty.

Seven were killed in Steeles Creek, two in Mudegegonga, one in Yarra Glen and four in Koornalla.

In Hazeldene two people were killed and three perished in nearby Flowerdale.

In Gippsland, nine people were killed in Callignee and one person died in Upper Callignee.

Four perished in Hazelwood and one died in Jeeralang.

Four died in Wandong, one in Arthurs Creek, one in Eaglehawk and four in Humevale.

Six people died in unspecified locations.

St Andrews, Kinglake, Arthur's Creek, Kinglake West, Strathewan, Flowerdale, Marysville, Steeles Creek, Taggerty, Narbethong, Yarra Glen and Humevale are all from the Kinglake Fire Complex.

Wandong is from the Kilmore fire complex I think.

Eaglehawk and Long Gully are from the Bendigo complex.

Callignee, Hazelwood, Jeeralang and Koornalla are from the Hazelwood fires.

Mudgegonga is from the Beechworth fires, which may have started as the Kinglake fires.

They're predicting up to 200 people dead.

I don't know whether they haven't reported any deaths from the Bunyip complex because it went for longer and people had more time to get out, or because they haven't had time to get in there yet. I'm hoping the former.

There were 31 active fires across the state as of 5.30am on Monday, the DSE and the Country Fire Authority (CFA) said.

I was outside at midday, and it's warming up again.

130

A friend of mine in the Army Reserve has just been contacted and given a heads up that they're likely to be deploying tomorrow.

A guy at work's brother is in the CFA - he's spent most of the day digging up bodies.

Another guy at work has professional links with the forensics mob - who are flat out and likely to remain so. All the people killed in the fires are regarded as homicides apparently. If they catch anyone for arson the book is likely to be very heavy.

There are 31 active fires still going according to the four o'clock news. So four fewer than 5.30am.

Still waiting on news of friends of Dean's parents, who live in Haven, one of the affected areas. I'm not sure if anyone's gotten in there yet. Everything's been quiet news-wise on the Horsham front. I'm not sure if that's a good sign, or if the horror that is Kinglake and surrounds has just overwhelmed all else.

Oh God, Strathewen.

I was listening when the announcers on ABC radio said "we've just had a text message after the last warning asking if Strathewen is affected - um, where is Strathewen?"

About two minutes later they'd had 20 odd text messages explaining where it is, and were confirming that the previous warning also applied. That must have been one of the early Kinglake warnings as well, I can't remember. I just remember thinking "shit, isn't that the one in the hills?" and going to look it up in the Melways so I could text them if necessary. Other, better geographically informed people got in quicker.

I think it was either just before or just after I phoned Dean.

I'm still stunned by the reports that half the burns victims in the hospital here are from Whittlesea. I've no idea where in Whittlesea they're from, or whether by Whittlesea they mean the town or the shire. I must get Dean to phone his parents tonight for more information.

Speaking of more information:

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