Australian bush fires: fears death toll from 'Black Saturday' could rise to 300

The toll from the Australian bushfires could rise as high as 300 as the full horror of the infernos that swept through Victoria on 'Black Saturday' becomes clear.

Authorities have warned the country to brace for more bad news and the discovery of more dead bodies as rescue teams move in to more fire-ravaged towns. The toll currently stands at 173.

Police have set up a special squad to investigate the fires and said they are closing in on the arsonists suspected of lighting several of the deadly fires.

News of the mounting number of dead comes as some residents from the badly-hit Kinglake area were finally allowed back up the mountain to see what remained of their homes and communities. Police and fire service workers have begun to escort convoys of locals from Whittlesea to Kinglake. Water and food was also trucked up the hill to aid the scores of people who had remained in the town as the fires raged through. Residents, who have not had access to television since they evacuated on Saturday will see the blackened hills, incinerated homes and burned out cars for the first time. Many have lost friends or relatives to the chaos and heat.

The fourth day after the infernos also brought more stories of loss and miraculous survival. One woman told of her neighbour who had lost both her daughters and another two people who had perished while sheltering in a storm drain.

84 killed in deadliest-ever Australian wildfires

HEALESVILLE, Australia -- Towering flames razed entire towns in southeastern Australia and burned fleeing residents in their cars as the death toll rose to 84 on Sunday, making it the country's deadliest fire disaster.

At least 700 homes were destroyed in Saturday's inferno when searing temperatures and wind blasts produced a firestorm that swept across a swath of the country's Victoria state, where all the deaths occurred

More than 40 feared dead in Australia's 'worst ever' bushfires

Australia has suffered one of its most devastating days of bushfires in living memory after blazes sweeping across the south-eastern state of Victoria killed at least 14 people.

Confirmation of the deaths came as more than 3,000 firefighters and hundreds more volunteers battled overnight to contain nine savage fires and police warned that the death toll could rise to 40.

The ferocious fires, fuelled by a combination of high temperatures, hot winds and bone-dry leaf litter, were burning on more than 10 fronts and had razed at least 100 homes.

In some places the infernos were so intense that weather forecasters said they were changing the weather - creating thunderstorms through a process known as pyrocumulus, in which enormous quantities of rising ash cause convection.

A woman called Denise, who phoned Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio, said her mother-in-law's house in Kinglake had been overcome by fire in just 15 minutes.

14 killed in Australian wildfires

SYDNEY -- Australian media say police have confirmed at least 14 deaths from wildfires sweeping the country's southeast.Australian Broadcasting Corp. and other media outlets cited police as saying the victims died in several fires that blazed through Victoria state Saturday.Temperatures around 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 Celsius) and high winds spurred dozens of wildfires across three states on Saturday, and tens of thousands of firefighters were struggling to contain blazes late into the night.