Aussie forest fires...

i still can't understand how these fires covered so much ground so quickly. the radio this morning people had minutes to get out. but at the same time they spoke of how the smoke in the sky blocked the sun.
If the wind was that strong you would see the smoke a long long time before the flames? Is the area pretty flat??

60mph winds and bone dry terrain means those fires have been moving incredibly fast... People have been getting caught out because they thought they had plenty of time to get to safety...
There were bad fires when I was in Victoria two years ago, nothing like this tho'... You could look straight at the sun during the day there was so much smoke in the atmosphere...