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Thousands of people were trapped as their small seaside town was attacked by one of Australia's increasingly menacing bushfires.Some 4,000 people gathered at the foreshore in Mallacoota in the state of Victoria on Tuesday morning as the fire approached.At 8am, the flames roared past the town's airport and the temperature shot up to 49C (120F) due to the radiant heat, according to the state's newspaper The Age.Image:Residents of Mallacoota, Victoria, gathered at the wharf as the fire approached.
Pic: @bluesfestbluesThe sky went black and then a dark shade of red as the fire threw embers close to where the worried residents waited on the beach, many wearing swimming goggles and breathing masks, some sitting in boats.Those on the beach told local media that they could see houses being destroyed by the fire and they could hear gas bottles exploding.Country Fire Authority chief officer Steve Warrington said three strike teams were based in the town and were protecting residents.He added: "It is pitch black.
It is quite scary in that community.
They right now are under threat.
But we will hold our line and they will be saved and protected."Victoria's state Premier Daniel Andrews said there were plans to evacuate the trapped people by sea.Just after 4pm local time, Gippsland incident controller Ben Rankin said fire had affected a "significant number of assets" in both Mallacoota and nearby Genoa."Residents are in safe locations down on the beach (in Mallacoota) and are being looked after," he told ABC Gippsland.Image:The town of Corryong, Victoria, is one of those in danger.
Pic: Brooke Whitehead via StoryfulVictoria's fire authorities said 43 structures, some of them homes, have been destroyed in East Gippsland, where more than 200,000 hectares of land are burning and eight fires are at an emergency level.In Corryong, a town in Victoria's north, the situation was improving after a wind change, although fires were still burning on Tuesday afternoon.A number of other towns are affected and Mr Andrews has called for help from the military and for more firefighters from the US and Canada.More than 200 fires have started in the state since Monday and four people are unaccounted for.While officials said those missing are not firefighters, they were unable to say which part of the state they were from.Image:Skies across Australia went pitch black as the fires closed in on various townsAustralia's states are all experiencing bushfires as high summer temperatures combine with strong winds and land that, in many places, has been in drought for months or even years.Most of the more than 1,000 homes lost have been in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state.Image:Thousands of firefighters are battling the flames across Australia's statesNSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Warboys said the bodies of the two men were found in a house just west of Cobargo, a village in the south-east of the state on Tuesday.In comments reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, he said the father and son died in a "very tragic set of circumstances".He said: "They were obviously trying to do their best with the fire as it came through in the early hours of the morning."The other person that we are trying to get to, west of Narooma, we think that person as well was caught up, trying to defend their property in the early hours of the morning."Image:This was the scene in the town of Sussex Inlet, New South Wales, on TuesdayThe state's main city Sydney is expected to see temperatures of 34C (93F) on Tuesday, with 43C (109F) likely in western suburbs.The thick smoke that has covered the city for weeks is also likely to continue.Image:Samuel McPaul died when his fire truck rolled over on Monday.
Pics: New South Wales Rural Fire ServiceThree firefighters have been killed in the fires, the latest being Samuel McPaul, 28, who died when his fire truck rolled over in strong winds at the scene of a blaze in New South Wales on Monday.Mr McPaul had been married nearly 18 months and his wife Megan is expecting their first child in May.Firefighters Geoffrey Keaton, 32, and Andrew O'Dwyer, 36, were killed earlier in December when their fire truck hit a tree and rolled over just south of Sydney.Across Australia more than four million hectares have been destroyed, with some fire fronts stretching more than 600 miles, putting pressure on firefighters, many of whom are volunteers and have been battling the flames for many weeks.
A World
'They will be saved': 4,000 shelter on beach as bushfires take hold
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