Bushfire toll 'to stay around 200 mark'

(AAP) - Victoria's bushfire death toll is unlikely to climb much higher than the current figure of 201, police say, allaying fears that up to 300 perished.

The toll rose by one, to 201, following the death of ACT firefighter David Balfour,
a 47-year-old husband and father of three.
He was killed by a falling tree branch near Marysville on Tuesday.
His widow Celia said her husband had gone to Victoria to help repay a "debt of
honour" to those who helped Canberra after its own firestorm six years ago.
Police on Wednesday said they'd resolved the cases of some people who'd been listed
as missing since the February 7 firestorm.
"At this point in time we are relatively comfortable all those unaccounted for have
now been accounted for - their remains have been located," Deputy Commissioner
Keiran Walshe told reporters.
He said police would spend at least another week searching through the rubble in
devastated Marysville, in Victoria's northeast.
While some more bodies would likely be found, it should not be a great number, he said.
The number of people killed in the alpine resort town stands at 36. At one point it
was feared up to 100 had been lost there.
"We do expect there will be some further increases to the number of bushfire victims
... but we are hopeful that there will not be a significant rise in numbers," Mr
Walshe said.
He said police remained suspicious about the cause of the Marysville fire, which
started at the Murrindindi mill.
"Where the fire started, and the initial spread of the fire, is just not consistent
with the environment there," he said.
"It is very difficult to explain the cause and because of that we have listed it as
undetermined."
Mr Walshe said the toll from the Churchill fire in Gippsland had dropped from 21 to
10 after it was discovered that animal remains had been counted.
"Fire does extreme damage to the human body and some of the remains that have been
collected have been found not to be human," he said.
In a couple of cases, human bodies had been counted twice, he said.
State Coroner Jennifer Coate said her department was in the early stages of
identifying victims.
But she said it could be months before remains were released for burial.
"Each individual life that has been lost is and will continue to be treated with the
utmost respect," Ms Coate said.
She said identifying remains was a very complex process for forensic investigators,
who had to meet international standards.
Her department was aware of the need to identify people as quickly as possible
without compromising standards, she said.
"The families have been extraordinarily helpful in what is the most terrible and
difficult circumstances," Ms Coate said.
The Country Fire Authority said on Wednesday that five fires, with a combined fire
edge of 2,000km, continued to burn out of control.
But the only one causing concern is the fire at Wilson's Promontory, although that
is not threatening property.
CFA spokesman David Harrison said the plan was to let the fires either burn to
constructed containment lines, or carry out back-burning.
While residents around Dargo in the state's east were seeing flames and smoke on
Wednesday afternoon, Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Stuart
Ord said the week-old fire was not moving and was not posing any threat to
communities.
Crews were also working on putting containment lines around the southern side of the
Kilmore East-Murrindindi Complex, which was threatening water catchments, before an
expected return of warm weather early next week.
On Sunday, thousands of Victorians will gather in Melbourne and a string of
bushfire-scorched townships as part of a national day of mourning for those killed.