Sydney  - The volunteers who battled Australia's worst forest fires were praised for their heroism Sunday at a service to remember the 209 who died in blazes north of Melbourne on February 7.

"Courage is a firefighter standing at the gates of hell, unflinching and unyielding," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told a gathering at a Melbourne sports stadium that included Britain's Princess Anne.

"For Black Saturday, what we saw at work was the worst of nature but the best of humanity."

Firefighters in their distinctive yellow suits were prominent among the tens of thousands of friends, relatives and well-wishers at the memorial service.

Rudd praised his own response to the nation's worst natural disaster, saying he would not be like other leaders and fail communities hit by catastrophe.

He said there was no limit on what his government would spend to restore services to ravaged towns and to help the 7,500 made homeless when 1,830 houses were flattened. He pledged to honour his part of a "solemn contract to each of these communities to rebuild - brick by brick, home by home, school by school, church by church, street by street."

Rudd also announced that each February 7 flags on public buildings would fly at half mast.

"These communities are Australia, and we would be a lesser Australia without any of them," the prime minister said.

The death toll is likely to rise, as forensic teams move from house to house to look for the remains of those who were consumed by the flames. (dpa)