Australian firefighters bracing for a renewed threat from wildfires were cautiously optimistic they had prevented the blazes flaring again.

Hundreds of Australian schools and childcare centres will be closed on Friday because of a resurgent threat from wildfires, officials said.

Arson is suspected, but Australians must accept pollution and unbridled growth are firebugs too, writes Tim Flannery.

Survivors made a return on Saturday to a town burnt to ashes in Australia’s deadliest bushfires, as police picked through the crime scene.

Arsonists lit a wildfire that killed 21 people in Australia and are suspected of starting another that razed a whole town, police said on Thursday.

Australian police investigated fresh arson attacks and looting on Wednesday as angry survivors pressed for access to towns devastated by wildfires.