Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/arson-suspected-in-deadly-australian-wildfires Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The death toll has reached 166 in Australia's worst wildfires in its history, and police suspect arsons might have caused some of the fires in the southeastern part of the country. A reporter provides an update from Sydney. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Earlier this evening, Jeffrey Brown talked with Jennifer Bennett of the Los Angeles Times from Sydney. JEFFREY BROWN: Jennifer, what can you tell us about the situation today in terms of weather conditions and control of the fires? JENNIFER BENNETT, Los Angeles Times: Well, this morning, the weather is a little cooler. And some of the fires have slowed a little, but there's still about 50 raging throughout the state, about 12 of which are out of control still. Overnight, the death toll continued to climb. I think it could hit 200 by the end of the day. JEFFREY BROWN: The incredible speed and ferocity of these fires, this is a region, a country, in fact, that's quite used to bushfires, I understand. But what is being said about what made these so powerful? JENNIFER BENNETT: Well, yes, as you said, bushfires are a fact of life in Australia, but these ones are unlike anything that we've ever seen. Essentially, it's believed that a combination of serious drought in this part of Australia — New South Wales and Victoria and South Australia have been in drought for about 12 years — combined with a heat wave in Victoria last week. Saturday was the hottest day in Melbourne's history.And then a usual common weather system then pushes more hot air and wind down from the center of Australia through Victoria. Again, this is something that's very normal, but, combined with this existing heat wave, just turned into an inferno.