Australian wildfires: looters ransack homes
As official's warn that ongoing wildfires in Australia pose an "unparalleled danger", some residents of New South Wales have returned to find their homes ransacked.
Firefighters continued to battle some of the most destructive wildfires to ever strike Australia's most populous state of New South Wales, with higher temperatures and winds expected to intensify the danger in the coming days.
The fires have killed one man, destroyed a total of 208 homes in the state and damaged another 122 since Thursday, the Rural Fire Service said.
Local media has also reported incidents of looting in the town of Clarence, west of Sydney.
Clarence resident, Rick Kirby called the robberies a "low" thing to do, adding:
"everybody's at their lowest and, you know, being evacuated from their houses and all of that sort of stuff and then people come and can do that."
The premier of New South Wales, Barry O'Farrell, has declared a state of emergency.
Fifteen of these fires continued to burn out of control, including the blaze near Lithgow, west of Sydney, which is burning on a 300-kilometre (190-mile) front and was given the highest danger ranking by the fire service.
Authorities expect that blaze will continue to burn for days and have advised several nearby communities to consider evacuating ahead of worsening weather conditions.
Firefighters continued to battle some of the most destructive wildfires to ever strike Australia's most populous state of New South Wales, with higher temperatures and winds expected to intensify the danger in the coming days.
The fires have killed one man, destroyed a total of 208 homes in the state and damaged another 122 since Thursday, the Rural Fire Service said.
Local media has also reported incidents of looting in the town of Clarence, west of Sydney.
Clarence resident, Rick Kirby called the robberies a "low" thing to do, adding:
"everybody's at their lowest and, you know, being evacuated from their houses and all of that sort of stuff and then people come and can do that."
The premier of New South Wales, Barry O'Farrell, has declared a state of emergency.
Fifteen of these fires continued to burn out of control, including the blaze near Lithgow, west of Sydney, which is burning on a 300-kilometre (190-mile) front and was given the highest danger ranking by the fire service.
Authorities expect that blaze will continue to burn for days and have advised several nearby communities to consider evacuating ahead of worsening weather conditions.
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