2 dead, dozens injured as Australia wildfires raze homes

Wildfires razing Australia's drought-stricken east coast have left two people dead and several missing, more than 30 injured and over 100 homes destroyed, officials said Saturday.

Around 1,500 firefighters were battling 70 fires across Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, with the most intense in the northeast where flames were fanned by strong winds, Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

Firefighters found a body on Saturday in a burned car near Glen Innes, he said.

A woman who was found on Friday unconscious and with serious burns near Glen Innes had died in hospital, he said.

Another seven people have been reported missing in the vicinity of the same fire.

"We are expecting that number (of missing persons) to climb today," Fitzsimmons told reporters.

"There are really grave concerns that there could be more losses or indeed more fatalities."
"So firefighters were torn between trying to send help to one fire or another."
"It was pretty scary," Stewart said. "We're hearing lots of stories of lost houses, lost property, goods and effects, animals, land. It's going to be horrific, I think."
"I've never seen the sky so red since 2000," Lean said. "We've got winds blowing, they're circling, it's like a cyclone."