Most Americans still dont have any idea of how bad the fires were. Lets give you an insight. The walls of flame from a usual bushfire would be about 15m (45ft) high and make an area close to the flame of about 3 times the initial burn radius 45m (135ft) a danger zone.

The fires that were on Black Saturday (it has a name now) were 60m (180ft) high and caused a burn radius of 180m (540ft)

You got caught .. you didnt have a chance.