A lot of the comms appears to be within hearing distance of Melbourne itself.
They are calling this event the perfect storm. Extremely fast moving large fire front, flames leaping up to a couple of hundred feet in height, tornadic like core winds and a blast furnace within (ie several hundred degrees F). Many folk in it's path have been incinerated for want of a better term. That is why the death toll continues to rise ... it is almost 200 and they are talking about 300 now as likely. They are still finding victims days afterward. What happened is a combination of a number of volatile factors: a)extremely high temperatures of 115-120 deg F across the state of Victoria, b)storm force northerly winds (50-60kts), c)extremely high fuel loads (leaf litter) per hectare (around 30 tons), d)eucalyptus oil trees and e)very low humidity around 4-5%. And three continuous days of 107-112 deg heat the previous week would have sucked out any moisture in the grass and forests
The recently announced royal commission into the firies is likely to home in on the extremely high fuel loads per hectare .... which has perversely occurred because of the reliance in anustralian politics in most states to corner the green vote to get sufficient votes to win or continue in goverment. The tree-hugging greenies have too much influence in what would be otherwise simple back burning to reduce fuel loads
A royal commission gives the chief judicial officer chairing the commission wide reaching legal authority (on behalf of the Governor of Victoria - who is Queen Elizabeth II's representative in that state) to determine the causes and gives them coercive powers to force witnesses to appear and give evidence (or sit in jail indefinitely for contempt of court).
Grant
PS The firies are still continuing to threaten other townships. It is not over by a long shot. Fortunately benign conditions in the other states has released a large contingent of interstate fire crews to come in and rotate with local Victorian CFA folk.
Interesting background information
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25037492-662,00.html
