At least four people died in bushfires raging in parts of Western Australia, authorities said on Wednesday, with a shocked local community lamenting the "day from hell".
Several fast-moving blazes, sparked by lightning, were burning around Esperance about 750 kilometres south-east of Perth, with hundreds of firemen working round the clock in searing temperatures to put out the first serious fires ahead of the Australian summer.
"Sadly, police have confirmed four fatalities," state Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Wayne Gregson said, adding that two women and two men, in two separate cars, died trying to escape the flames.