THE DEATH toll from the nation's worst bushfires is expected to more than double, with the Victorian Government being advised to prepare for 230 fatalities.
Police and fire crews began entering some of the worst-affected regions today and the official toll stood at 128.
But The Australian understands the state government was advised during crisis meetings this morning of predictions of at least 230 deaths.
- CFA: Live fire updates
- Interactive map: bushfires across the state
- Pictures: Counting the cost
- Pictures: Scenes of devastation
- Help: Bushfire hotlines and donations
The grim tally amounts to at least three times the number of lives lost in both the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 and the Black Friday fires of 1939.
The warning come as residents in the Beechworth and Yackandandah regions in Victoria's northeast remain on high alert today with a bushfire bearing down on them from the east.
As forensic investigators began work in the Churchill region in Gippsland to establish if the fires were deliberately lit, the state's Country Fire Authority advised that the blaze in the bushland region had crossed the Yackandandah-Dederang Road about 20km southeast of Beechworth.
It has also jumped the Kiewa River between the towns of Running Creek and Coral Bank, another 20km to the south, and is heading northwest towards the two regions.
Towns on urgent alert include Stanley, Bruarong, Dederang, Gundowring, Gundowring Upper, Kancoona, Kancoona South, Coral Bank, Glen Creek and Running Creek.
The town of Eskdale is also on alert.
The fire warnings came as Victorian Premier John Brumby indicated today that a review of the bushfires would include examining the "stay and defend or leave early" policy.
Police said today all fire-devastated areas would be treated as crime scenes to determine if arson was involved.
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said: "At this stage we have a team at the fire at Churchill in the Gippsland Valley, which is certainly one that we believe was deliberately lit.
"Our fire experts and our own investigators have suggested that the way that it happened, how fast that it happened, that there is good evidence to believe that it was lit."
Responding to speculation that the fires has been deliberately lit, the Prime Minister, who remained in Victoria today, said it would amount to “mass murder”.
“What do you say about anyone like that - there are no words to describe it other than mass murder,” Mr Rudd said.
Read more on The Australian online.
