'Too late to leave': Bushfires threaten Australia
The sky has turned blood orange in Australia, where scores of wild fires have brought parts of the country under a state of emergency.
Millions are now bracing for the worst blazes in at least a decade.
Officials said fires in two locations had become so severe, that it was too late for people caught up in them to flee.
Some residents have likened the scenes to an apocalypse, or hell on earth.
Lawmakers and firefighters have said they are prepared - but warned there's only so much they can do, as they take on soaring heat and high winds.
Bushfires are by no means uncommon in Australia, but the ferocity of these blazes, that have started earlier than previous years, have taken many by surprise.
As the deadly fires force people out of their homes, a climate debate is taking hold in government.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declined to say whether the fires were brought on by climate change.
The deputy PM accused climate activists of politicizing a tragedy.
But the mayor of Glen Innes - a town ravaged by the fires - has called on the government to listen to science.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) MAYOR OF GLEN INNES, CAROL SPARKS, SAYING:
"It's not a political thing, it's a scientific fact that we are going through climate change […] we are so dry in this country, we haven't had rain for years in some places […] and to deny climate change is, to me, a very ill-informed and uneducated way of looking at things."
Hundreds of schools and colleges were closed on Tuesday (November 12), and Sydney, one of Australia's most iconic cities, came under a catastrophic danger warning for the first time in a decade.
Seventy blazes are now tearing through states, with new ones still igniting.
