missmad said:

bendigo bank are accepting donations...thats where i pay my rent each week...

u can actually nominate which area u want ur money to go to.

Death toll is at 180.

purplesweat said:

so so so very sad

prb said:

Do you have a link? Will money be accepted from the US? This is just so sad and incomprehensible.

MoonSongs said:

https://www.redcross.org....ations.asp
we donated to this one

ZombieKitten said:

red cross is the major one.

i just dont like doing things on line or over the ph

i was just in the CBA 4 work, and i heard a lady ask were they taking donations.

yes they were.

prb said:

I was sitting on the bus thinking about having a garage sale or something and donate the money to the bushfires...but I dont know if I have enough stuff to do that I saw the red cross in the shopping centre today but I think that was for the starving kids. I'll stop and ask them tomorrow

chillichocaholic said:

every little bit helps

as well as donating cash, we had a few bags of clothes 4 charity bins, so made sure they went in the red cross one.

My family already donated some money.

My grandad broke down about it all yesterday, I was shocked at first because I've never seen him like that.

It is simply unbelievable. The absolute devestation is incomprehensable. So many people just didn't stand a chance. None at all.

prb said:

Today I found out that u can drop clothes of at the Maquarie pier in Hobat tomorrow...this was emailed to me today..

The Senate office in Hobart will be accepting donations of good
quality clothing and shoes for the bushfire victims until Thursday
of this week.
Clothing can be left at - First Floor, Murray Street Pier, Hobart,
HOBART, phone 6224 3222 hours 9-5.
Please note, please bring your donations by 5pm on Thursday (Feb.
12) as the container is due to leave then

chillichocaholic said:

thats very cool the dude i heard talking then on the news was maybe just talking bout that area.

prb said:

ah ok, didn't know that! the bank i am with is 2, commonwealth bank. not sure what that dude was on about then, anyway.

This link shows 58 pics of the size of some of the fires and the devestation left behind
http://news.ninemsn.com.a...e=bigfires

chillichocaholic said:

oh my lord look at photo 38

ZombieKitten said:

That one floored me...I just sat there staring at it for a while

Look at pic 37 in this one

http://news.ninemsn.com.a...swatchfire

chillichocaholic said:

the one after it nearly even worse and the one with the black trees and one still glowing

ZombieKitten said:

They did have a link to pics of some of the peoples faces that died in the fires and I cried at every one of them....so sad

chillichocaholic said:

there is one there with a big flame taller than everything else, which looks like what my friend described she saw Saturday night from her back porch

chillichocaholic said:

I couldn't look at that one
My friend said her friend lost her house, but all the neighbours died, and she had snuck back to look and saw things nobody should ever have to see.

ZombieKitten said:

Oh Good Lord

chillichocaholic said:

prayers for a quick end to this fire and prayers for the families to quickly recover are coming to you.

cheers!
~svn seven

I found the link with a small amout of pics of only a small group of the people who were lost to this tradgedy and now I hear there are fears that the fires may merge
http://news.ninemsn.com.a...irevictims

chillichocaholic said:

it's all we talked about over dinner, all our stories
they said that looks like several fires will join together to make one big one.
Hot conditions forecast for the weekend, with strong winds again

Fears are growing that another monster fire is building in Victoria as two major blazes burning close together threaten to merge east of Melbourne.

Just 18km separated the Bunyip Ridge fire to the southeast and the Yea-Murrindindi blaze in the northeast, with lightning strikes igniting spot fires in between.

On Wednesday night, the death toll from Saturday's vicious fires stood at 181, but with identification experts making their way into devastated regions, the count has slowed before an expected rise beyond 300.

Victorian Premier John Brumby said up to 100 people may have been killed in the idyllic alpine township of Marysville out of its population of 500.

Marysville, which as so far had eight deaths officially recorded, has been declared a crime scene and is closed off as police teams make their grim way through the rubble.

"In the Marysville area, for example, there could be between 50 and 100 lives finally lost there," Mr Brumby said.

Mr Brumby defended the police decision to close off Marysville when residents are anxious to get back to their community and begin rebuilding.

"You can imagine if people return to those areas and they return to a house or a next door neighbour and there are still deceased persons there, the trauma of this and the impact would be quite devastating," Mr Brumby said.

"The road itself into Marysville still has powerlines over it, still has trees that are burning."

A total of 450,000 hectares across the state have already been burnt out and 1,033 homes destroyed and authorities warn the threat is not over.

The 100,000 hectare Yea-Murrindindi blaze burns at the bottom edge of the deadly Kinglake Complex and if they were to merge with Bunyip, a 250,000 hectare mega-fire would be hovering close to Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs.

Firefighters were working furiously to build containment lines on Wednesday night.

"There certainly is the very real possibility that these fires may join," a Country Fire Authority spokesman (CFA) said.

He said hundreds of kilometres of control lines were being built to keep the fires apart.

"We're hopeful that the strategy will be completed in time for warmer weather later in the week," the spokesman said .

Temperatures are expected to reach the low to mid-20s across the state on Thursday and Friday, with winds dropping off.

Saturday temperatures would creep into the mid to high 20s with a changeable north easterly wind and into the 30s next week.

As well as threatening the communities of Healesville and Warburton and Melbourne's outer fringes, a merged fire could have massive implications for the state's gas and water supplies, with the Longford gas plant and Thompson Reservoir in the area.

CFA Deputy Chief Fire Officer Steve Warrington said the Thompson Reservoir in the Upper Yarra Valley northeast of Melbourne, a major catchment for Melbourne's water supply, could come under threat.

"Thompson Reservoir is a concern because of the long term impacts for water catchment in Victoria," Mr Warrington told reporters.

"And everything is being done to prevent the fire reaching the gas plant at Longford."

Police on Wednesday ruled out arson as the cause of the Kinglake fire which has killed at least 150, but confirmed the Churchill blaze which killed 21 people in Gippsland is suspicious.

Despite announcing on Tuesday they were close to putting together a photofit of a suspect, no descriptions have been issued and head of the arson task said an arrest was still distant.

"Is there an arrest imminent, no," Assistant Commissioner Dannye Moloney told reporters.

"Are we progressing the investigation in a positive manner? Yes.

"We are identifying individuals that might have the opportunity or otherwise or the motivation to start such a fire."

Police were also investigating reports of looting in some devastated towns.

"We're having some reports of looting, but not a great deal," Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said.

Ms Nixon said people were telling police they had seen "strange people who are sifting through parts of houses that have been burnt."

Meanwhile, a fire burning in a pine forest near the town of Mansfield is no longer posing a threat to residents.

Authorities downgraded an urgent threat message for the fire southeast of the town, about 200km northeast of Melbourne.

The fire burning near Rifle Butts Road in a northerly direction was no longer posing a threat to the communities, a CFA spokesman said.

It broke out at about 5.20pm on Wednesday and trucks and water bombing aircraft were involved in fighting the fire, the spokesman said.

Governor-General Quentin Bryce will tour bushfire-ravaged areas of Victoria on Thursday, visiting Yea, the main relief centre for te Kinglake area.

chillichocaholic said:

Man, I'm right near that suburb...

chillichocaholic said:

OK, this is really scary

purplesweat said:

omg Jess