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Two Dead, Dozens Hurt, 150-plus Homes Lost in Australia Wildfires

Associated Press

   CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - Wildfires razing Australia's drought-stricken
   east coast have left two people dead and several missing, more than 30
   injured and more than 150 homes destroyed, officials said Saturday.

   Around 1,500 firefighters were battling more than 70 fires across
   Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, with the most intense
   in the northeast where flames were fanned by strong winds, Rural Fire
   Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

   A woman who was found Friday unconscious and with serious burns near
   Glen Innes had died in hospital, he said.

   Her daughter-in-law Chrystal Harwood identified the victim as
   69-year-old grandmother Vivian Chaplain, who was alone in her house in
   the small community of Wytaliba when it was engulfed in flames.

   "I was the last one to speak to her. She was in an absolute panic. She
   said: 'We're on fire. There's fire everywhere. I need the boys here
   now,'" Harwood told Nine Network television of their final phone call.

   "Before I even got to tell her to just get out, she'd hung up on me. I
   couldn't get back through to her. I tried so many times," Harwood said.
   "She was amazing. She was such a strong, loving woman."

   On Friday, Harwood made a desperate plea on social media for someone to
   come to Chaplain's rescue.

   "Viv is alone can someone help, anyone please ... boys are on the way
   down if they can get through," Harwood posted. "The RFS can't get to
   her they are trying ... the road down is a tunnel of fire."

   Firefighters found another body on Saturday in a burned car near Glen
   Innes, a victim of the same fire, officials said. The local man's name
   has not been released.

   Another seven people have been reported missing in the vicinity of the
   same fire.

   Toll expected to climb

   "We are expecting that number (of missing persons) to climb today,"
   Fitzsimmons told reporters. "There are really grave concerns that there
   could be more losses or indeed more fatalities."

   More than 30 people including firefighters received medical treatment
   for burns and one patient had a cardiac arrest, he said.

   At least 150 homes had been destroyed since Friday, and damage
   assessment teams had yet to reach some devastated areas, a Rural Fire
   Service statement said. Residents could not yet return because of the
   dangers of fire, smoke and loose asbestos in the rubble, the statement
   said.

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