The bushfires raging across large areas of south-eastern Australia have destroyed entire towns and devastated local communities. Many people perished in their cars as they tried to drive to safety.
Here - accompanied by some graphic images and the sound of the strong winds that have been fanning the flames - eyewitnesses describe how they escaped, but how others were not so lucky.
Warning: slideshow contains graphic images
Click 'show captions' for photo and audio information. Not all images have captions.
Photographs courtesy AFP, Getty Images and AP. Slideshow by Paul Kerley. Publication date 10 February 2009
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