Walls of flame roared across southeastern Australia, razing scores of homes, forests and farmland in the country's worst wildfire disaster in a quarter century. Altogether there were 35 deaths and 84 injured.
Police said they believed the deaths included groups of people whose charred bodies were found in cars — suggesting families or groups of friends were engulfed in flames as they tried to escape. The fires were so massive, they were visible from space. NASA released satellite photographs showing a white cloud of smoke across southeastern Australia.
