Mourners gather as bush fires continue to rage

AUSTRALIANS mourning the lives lost in horrific wildfires last week sought comfort at churches yesterday 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 about 400 blazes — some thought to have been deliberately set — tore across Victoria state on February 7 in Australia’s worst wildfire disaster.