Whittlesea Residents Mourn Bushfire Victims

Residents of the town of Whittlesea located just outside of Melbourne and adjacent to both Mt. Disappointment and Kinglake National Park that were both locations of some of Victoria’s biggest bushfires, remember the victims of those fires this Sunday:

Australians mourning the lives lost in horrific wildfires last week sought comfort at churches Sunday even as firefighters continued to battle a dozen blazes still burning in the state.

Fire engines raced past the small, 140-year-old Christ Church in Whittlesea while the Archbishop of Melbourne was leading a service, their sirens briefly drowning out a song.

More than 180 people were killed and 1,800 homes destroyed when some 400 blazes — some thought to have been deliberately set — tore across Victoria state on Feb. 7 in Australia‘s worst-ever wildfire disaster.

Across the 1,500-square mile (3,900-square kilometer) fire zone, residents and friends gathered at church services to pray for the dead. The scene was repeated at churches across the country.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd attended a service in the town of Wandong, where he joined residents in placing leaves and flowers into a bowl of water in a symbol of remembrance and rebuilding.

In Whittlesea, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of the state capital of Melbourne, Governor General Quentin Bryce joined about 200 people who overflowed into Christ Church’s yard for an hourlong service.

“You could feel the togetherness there,” Bryce said. “It will give people support and comfort in their grief.”  [Associated Press]