Australian forest fire leaves 1 dead

One man has died as the result of a forest fire that ripped through the outskirts of the Australian city of Perth on Sunday, destroying at least 50 houses and blackening 650 hectares of land, officials said Monday. According to dpa, the 62-year-old man suffered a heart attack after climbing on to the roof of his house to protect it from flying embers, local media reported. Four people assumed missing have been found alive, Australian broadcaster ABC reported. The blaze - which took hold in the Perth Hills district, 35 kilometers east of the Western Australia state capital - was put under control after 250 firefighters and water-bombing aircraft battled flames that in some places reached 20 meters high. The fire, which is thought to have been sparked by an electrical fault in a power pole, quickly took hold as a result of strong winds that followed two consecutive days of temperatures above 40 degrees. Several hundred people evacuated from their homes faced a second night in emergency centers on Monday. Many were not allowed to return to their homes until police and firefighters had combed the wreckage for survivors and victims.