Australia-Blazes down under

[NJFFSA16]

Be safe brothers!

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Two major wildfires in Sydney destroyed
at least 10 homes Tuesday and threatened others, firefighters said.
Helicopters were dropping water on the blazes, which were burning
out of control close to dozens more houses.
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service said a total of 74
wildfires were blazing across the state, some of which may have
deliberately lit.
"It is an ominous start to the fire season," said Phil
Koperberg, chief of the rural fire service.
Rural fire service spokesman Cameron Wade told The Associated
Press at least 10 homes had been destroyed.
There were no immediate reports of injuries caused by the fires
but a number of firefighters and home owners were treated for smoke
inhalation.
The largest fires were burning at Engadine in southwestern
Sydney, where some people had been evacuated from their homes, and
west of the city at the foot of the Blue Mountains National Park,
officials said.
A pall of gray smoke drifted over the city, visible from
downtown. Television images showed flames and smoke churning out of
the roofs of houses and residents dousing their homes with water to
protect them from the intense heat.
Another rural fire service spokesman, John Winter, said some 370
firefighters were battling the two blazes along with five
helicopters, which were dumping water on the flames.
"They are well out of control at this stage," Winter said of
the Sydney fires.
Winter said fire fighters would not begin trying to put out the
fires until after dark, when temperatures and winds dropped.
"The plan is to focus on protecting life first and property
second. As things cool down in the night we will work on trying to
contain the fires," he said.
At least 200 people were evacuated to a military veterans' club
at Engadine.
Julie Virdun, a child care worker from Engadine said police told
her to pick up the four children she was looking after and leave
immediately.
"All of a sudden there was black smoke at the back of the
houses across the road from me," she said. "I picked up the
children. The smoke looked terrible."
Engadine borders Sydney's Royal National Park, a 132 square
kilometer (50 square mile) area of eucalyptus forests and scrub
that was devastated by fires late last year.
One blaze was also burning near a nuclear reactor at Lucas
Heights in southwestern Sydney, the television report said. The
reactor was not threatened, emergency services said.
Wade said that since there had been no recent lighting strikes
in Sydney, "we have got to put these (fires) down to human
intervention of some sort, be it accidental or deliberate."
Temperatures in western Sydney hovered around 30 degrees Celsius
(86 F) Tuesday with low humidity and strong winds.
Temperatures were forecast to drop to about 20 C (68 F) on
Wednesday.
"Tomorrow will provide an opportunity for containment" of the
fires, Koperberg said.
More than 170 homes were destroyed and over 500,000 hectares
(1.2 million acres) of forest and farmland were blackened by about
100 wildfires that blazed across New South Wales state for 16 days
from Christmas Eve last year. It was Australia's longest-ever bush
fire crisis.
No human lives were lost, but wildlife officials estimate
thousands of native animals, such as koalas, were killed or
injured.
At the peak of the crisis some 15,000 firefighters - most of
them volunteers - battled fire fronts stretching hundreds of
kilometers (miles) in length.
Officials say more than half the fires were deliberately lit,
many by bored teenagers on school vacation.
Tuesday's rash of blazes also came during school vacations.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Chris Bentley picked through a pile of
charred roof beams lying on the floor of what remained of his
living room, scratching his head.
"This is confirmation of the nightmare I had last night," he
said Wednesday. "It was my home yesterday, I suppose it still
is."
On Tuesday, shortly after lunchtime, a ferocious bush fire tore
through a eucalyptus forest bordering Bentley's home in the
southwestern Sydney suburb of Engadine and leapt into his house,
reducing it to a smoldering pile of rubble in minutes.
Bentley raced home from work in a Sydney hospital when he heard
fire had erupted near his house on Thurlonga Road.
"By the time I got here, it was too late," he said.
"Apparently ours was one of the first to go."
Nine other houses on the same street also were destroyed and
several more were badly damaged by the fire, which officials
suspect was set off by maintenance workers repairing a water pipe.
"All it takes is one spark from an angle grinder," said Phil
Koperberg, chief of the New South Wales state Rural Fire Service,
who was on Thurlonga Road thanking his volunteer firefighters for
their efforts.
"We managed to save a lot of homes," he said.
Some houses next to razed homes were untouched by the flames,
thanks to shifting winds and the efforts of firefighters.
On the other side of the street from Bentley's home none of the
houses was damaged.
"I have mixed feelings this morning," said Ian Smith as he
offered tea and coffee to exhausted firefighters who spent the
night dousing flames that burned close to his home. "We are
untouched and these poor people have nothing."
The firefighters wrapped up most of their work early Wednesday
but Thurlonga Road was still a hive of activity.
A handful of firefighters hosed down final patches of smoldering
rubble, insurance assessors walked from house to house, community
workers told home owners how and where to get help. A state
government minister announced to waiting media that people who lost
their homes would be given 10,000 Australian dollars (US$5,500) to
begin rebuilding their shattered lives.
While the fires were out on the street, a helicopter hovered in
the background dumping water on smoking patches of forest.
The fire in Engadine was one of 80 that hit Australia's most
populous state, New South Wales, on Tuesday. Dozens were still
blazing in rural land in the state's north.
Police and firefighters suspect many were started deliberately
and reactivated a team of detectives that investigated scores of
fires that hit New South Wales over 16 days starting late last
year, scorching hundreds of thousands of hectares (acres).
Bentley's home in Engadine was typical of the devastation.
His swimming pool overlooking a picturesque forested valley was
thick with gray ash; a garden gnome next to the pool was unscathed.
In Bentley's front yard, a black smear lay on the ground between
singed trees where Tuesday his plastic garbage bin had stood.
All that was left of palm trees planted next to the pool were
blackened trunks and a few scorched fronds.
"Is that Laura's bed?" asked Bentley's wife, Julie, as he
looked through the wreckage.
Neither of them could be sure. Laura, their 11-year-old
daughter, was not there to help them out.
"She's still too upset to come and look," Bentley said.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Firefighters fought through the night
to contain two major blazes that destroyed 10 homes and badly
damaged others in Sydney in what authorities called an "ominous
start" to Australia's wildfire season.
By early Wednesday, the devastating Sydney blazes were under
control although dozens more raged in rural areas of Australia's
most populous state, New South Wales.
Rural Fire Service spokesman John Winter said that high
temperatures and strong winds that fanned the intense fires Tuesday
had dropped significantly during the night.
"It is an ominous start to the fire season," rural fire
service chief Phil Koperberg said.
At the height of Tuesday's blazes in southern and western
Sydney, more than 200 people were evacuated from their homes as
hundreds of firefighters, many of them volunteers, battled towering
flames tearing through tinder-dry forests and scrub.
Five helicopters also dumped water on homes threatened by the
fire.
With a long drought gripping much of New South Wales,
firefighters said up to 80 wildfires were blazing across the state.
There were no immediate reports of injuries but a number of
firefighters and home owners were treated for smoke inhalation.
Adrian Lloyd, who had lived in the Sydney suburb of Engadine for
20 years with his wife and daughter, lost his house to the flames.
"There was no warning, it has all gone. We have what we stand
up in," he said Tuesday.
Engadine borders Sydney's Royal National Park, a 50 square mile
area of eucalyptus forests and scrub that was devastated by fires
starting late last year in Australia's longest-ever bush fire
crisis.
More than 170 homes were destroyed and over 1.2 million acres of
forest and farmland were blackened last year by about 100 wildfires
that blazed across New South Wales state for 16 days from Christmas
Eve.
No human lives were lost, but thousands of wild animals, such as
koalas, were believed killed or hurt.
Officials say more than half the fires were deliberately lit,
many by bored teenagers on school vacation.
Tuesday's rash of blazes also came during school vacations.

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BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - Firefighters were battling Friday to
control raging wildfires that have claimed one life and destroyed
several homes in northeastern Australia.
A woman died Thursday after being trapped in her home at
Ballandean, a small town near the border between New South Wales
and Queensland states about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of
Queensland's capital city of Brisbane, officials said. In nearby
Stanthorpe, six homes were destroyed and around 80 people were
evacuated.
Police believe the fire was started by fallen power lines.
In northern Queensland, police were hunting a possible serial
arsonist after several suspicious grass fires this week.
More than 70 volunteer firefighters and local property owners on
Thursday battled blazes near Mackay, some 800 kilometers (500
miles) north of Brisbane.
Police Sergeant Dan Graham said several of the fires began
Thursday within 400 meters (yards) of each other. None of the fires
had damaged any buildings and no one was injured.
"There's been some suspicious grass fires," Graham said. "We
are having a good look at it."
To the south in neighboring New South Wales state, a 23-year-old
man was charged Friday with starting a grass fire that threatened
homes and vineyards in the Hunter Valley wine district 100
kilometers (60 miles) north of Sydney.
The Rural Fire Service and police attended the blaze in Pokolbin
on Tuesday, and extinguished it within an hour.
About 40 bush fires were burning across New South Wales, some
out of control but not yet threatening homes, the service said.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-10-17-02 2326EDT

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Eight homes were destroyed Saturday as
a bush fire swept through a small village in a winegrowing region
north of Sydney, officials said.
New South Wales state Fire Brigade spokesman Ian Krimmer said
several firefighters received minor injuries battling the blaze at
Abernathy in the Hunter Valley, about 100 kilometers (60 miles)
north of Sydney.
"It's been confirmed there have been eight houses destroyed in
the township of Abernathy," Krimmer said.
A giant water-dumping helicopter on lease from the United States
was on its way to help ground crews fight the blaze, Krimmer said.
The wildfire is one of 55 burning across New South Wales, which
is in the grip of a drought.
Firefighters on Saturday were also trying to contain a bush fire
in mountains west of the state capital that fire officials said was
deliberately lit.
Rural Fire Service spokesman John Winter said four separate
fires started late Friday in the Blue Mountains, 90 kilometers (55
miles) west of Sydney, and strong winds fueled the blazes out of
control.
No homes were yet threatened by the fires, but at least 80
firefighters and several tankers were on the scene building
containment lines.
"You don't get four fires on a night like last night unless
they're deliberately lit," Winter said Saturday.
Police had been called in to try to hunt down the culprits, he
added.
A popular weekend destination for Sydney residents, the Blue
Mountains was the scene of major bush fires last summer. More than
170 homes were destroyed and over 500,000 hectares (1.2 million
acres) of forest and farmland were blackened by about 100 wildfires
that burned across New South Wales state for 16 days from Christmas
Eve.
No human lives were lost, but thousands of wild animals, such as
koalas, were believed killed or hurt.
Officials say more than half the fires were deliberately lit,
many by bored teenagers on school vacation.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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SYDNEY, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Bushfire smoke enveloped
Australia's biggest city, Sydney, on Friday as firefighters
battled almost 100 fires across eastern Australia.
As the smoke rolled over the city, residents said
visibility was reduced to a few kilometres (miles) and in some
areas the smoke was so thick it forced some indoors.
The driest conditions in more than 100 years and
temperatures in the 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit)
range left firefighters struggling to contain bushfires, some
burning for more than a month.
A total of 94 fires were burning across Australia's most
populous state New South Wales (NSW), with 32 out of control.
The NSW Rural Fire Service declared a 24-hour fire ban from
midnight Thursday due to forecasts of hot, windy weather and
low humidity -- the worst combination of conditions for
bushfires.
"We've been fighting the same fires in many parts of the
state for many weeks with conventional containment strategies
failing time and time again because the bush and the forest is
so dry," said Rural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperberg.
"Even the slightest breeze, which under normal conditions
wouldn't concern us, is now causing fires to breach those
containment lines and, once having done so, they are burning
with great velocity and are difficult to suppress," he said.
About 2,000 firefighters from NSW, Tasmania and South
Australia states were marshalling ahead of a hot weekend.
Koperberg said firefighters were exhausted after battling
fires since mid-June. "With a long hard season ahead of them
many of them are tired and we need to bring them home," he
said.
Last Christmas, some of the worst bushfires ever seen
ringed Sydney, a city of four million, burning through 770,000
hectares (1.9 million acres) and destroying 109 houses. The
fire service says 20,000 homes were saved from the flames.
Fire services say the fires could be far worse than last
year because of extremely dry weather which has already seen
the driest seven month period since records began.
Last month 10 Sydney homes were destroyed as some 70 fires
burnt around the city.
Bushfires are natural to the Australian environment and
many plants depend upon them for their regeneration. But urban
sprawl has brought the bushfire frontline to city backyards.

Reut21:21 11-07-02

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Wildfires broke out in forestland
around Sydney as high temperatures and gusting winds fanned more
than 100 blazes in eastern Australia, officials said Sunday.
About 3,000 firefighters backed by water bombers were battling
flames across the eastern state of New South Wales, the country's
most populous, while an estimated 45 wildfires burned out of
control.
"These fire conditions are the worst we have had in
generations. This is a serious as it gets," said the state's
political leader, Bob Carr, who promised government support to any
families who lost their homes.
Australia's wildfire season normally runs from December through
February, but a drought affecting 70 percent of Australia caused
many fires to start burning months ago.
Rural Fire Services spokesman John Winter said fire crews had
been sent to new blazes that sprang up Sunday afternoon in bushland
on the suburban fringes of Sydney, a sprawling city of 4 million
people.
Winter warned that the danger was extreme due to winds gusting
up to 40 kilometers an hour (25 miles an hour) combined with
drought conditions and temperatures hovering around 35 degrees
Centigrade (95 degrees Fahrenheit).
An unexpected drop in temperature late Sunday afternoon and
intermittent rain in parts of the state helped firefighters bring
the blazes around the city under control, and extinguish seven
smaller blazes in some rural areas.
But officials warned the respite would be temporary and a return
to high temperatures was forecast.
"The state is baking dry and the drought and the fire season
are on us at the same time," Carr told reporters Sunday evening.
Rural Fire Services chief Phil Koperberg said firefighters from
around Australia were being mustered to help their New South Wales
colleagues.
"We're taking advantage of the lull in other states by inviting
them to assist us thus allowing some of our very, very stressed
fellows to get some rest," he said.
Another fire service spokesman, Cameron Wade, said the worst
blazes were still raging in rural areas to the north and south of
Sydney.
In the Hunter Valley wine district, 120 kilometers (75 miles)
north of Sydney, winds have pushed flames across 61,000 hectares
(151,000 acres) near the town of Cessnock. Residents near the fire
front were hosing down their homes in case the blaze leapt
containment lines set by firefighters, but no evacuations had been
ordered.
About 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Sydney, a fire that
destroyed five homes and several industrial properties around the
town of Mittagong on Saturday continued to burn. No more homes were
said to be in immediate danger, however.
That blaze cut off electricity to a plant that pumps water to
reservoirs supplying several towns outside the southern fringes of
Sydney. Authorities ordered water restrictions affecting about
25,000 people in 12 small towns and sent fleets of water trucks to
maintain supply for essential purposes.
Utility company spokesman Colin Judge said maintenance teams had
started reconstruction work but the damage was extensive and it was
impossible to say when power could be restored.
Officials said that the threat of wildfires would remain extreme
for several more days due to continuing forecast high temperatures
and low humidity.
Last year, more than 100 wildfires destroyed 170 homes in and
around Sydney during the Christmas and New Year period but caused
no deaths or major injuries.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Firefighters fought to save homes and
property in Sydney and Newcastle as bush fires fanned by hot
weather and strong winds destroyed power lines, leaving thousands
of people Wednesday without electricity.
More than 1,500 firefighters were battling 55 fires across New
South Wales state as temperatures rose to almost 104 degrees.
The worst blazes raged in the western Sydney suburb of
Londonderry and on the outskirts of Newcastle, an industrial city
about 90 miles north, Fire Service spokeswoman Meeka Bailey said.
Tuesday night the fires cut through two major power feeds near
Newcastle, cutting power to up to 30,000 customers of the local
electricity supplier Energy Australia.
An Energy Australia spokesman said about 11,000 homes and
businesses were still without power Wednesday as maintenance crews
attempted to restore the lines.
More than 500 residents evacuated to emergency centers overnight
after blazes hit fringe suburban areas of the city were returning
to their homes Wednesday morning.
"The tally as it stands is one house lost, several damaged - we
don't know how many - and three factories destroyed," said Rural
Fire Service spokesman John Winter.
Blazes that had threatened areas on the west suburban fringe of
Sydney on Tuesday were brought under control overnight.
Summer wildfires are a regular occurrence in Australia, where
high temperatures and hot, dry winds from the central deserts can
fan flames that spread across hundreds of thousands of miles,
mostly in the populous eastern states.
More than 100 fires destroyed 170 homes and dozens of commercial
properties in and around Sydney last year from Christmas to New
Year's Day, but caused no deaths or major injuries.

APTV 11-26-02 2148EST

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Dozens of brush fires fed by searing
heat erupted around Sydney on Wednesday, closing roads and railway
lines and threatening hundreds of homes, firefighters said.
At least 30 separate fires were reported as temperatures reached
97 degrees and a hot, dry wind swept over the city. One home had
already burned down.
"We've got major problems all over Sydney," said Phil
Koperberg, commissioner of New South Wales state Rural Fire
Service.
Anticipating the conditions, fire services declared a total fire
ban throughout New South Wales state for Wednesday. It was not
immediately clear how the fires started.
A year ago, bush fires ringed Sydney during Christmas,
destroying dozens of homes but injuring nobody.
"It is far from being under control and not likely to come
under any form of control until later this afternoon," Koperberg
said.
At least one house was burned down in the suburb of Wattle
Grove, about 15 miles west of downtown, a man identified only as
Steve told Sydney radio station 2GB from the scene.
Two thick plumes of white smoke - one to the north and one to
the south - could be seen from central Sydney.
One fire was burning in Lucas Heights, close to Sydney's nuclear
power plant.
There were no immediate reports of injuries anywhere in Sydney.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

SYDNEY, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Firefighters in Australia's
largest city battled 30 bushfires that sprang up around Sydney
within an hour on Wednesday as temperatures soared and strong
winds fanned flames, sending a huge grey pall of smoke over the
city.
Fire officials said the blazes were in bushland and not
residential areas and no evacuations had been ordered.
"Thirty fires have broken out in the last hour," said a
fire spokeswoman. "We are battling to control them at this
stage."
"There are extreme fire conditions today."
Drivers calling talk-back radio said they were forced to
turn on their car lights to drive through the thick black smoke
from one fire near the Sydney 2000 Olympics suburb of Homebush.
"This fire is huge, it's enormous," said a caller as one of
Sydney's major western freeways was closed with fire on both
sides. Metropolitan train services were also disrupted.
Another fire at Wiseman's Ferry on the northwest outskirts
of the city was threatening some 250 rural homes.
Electricity supplies were temporarily disrupted, trapping
office workers in lifts, after bushfires affected power lines
and electricity sub-stations.
Australia is in the grip of one of the worst droughts in
100 years and fire fighters have battled hundreds of bushfires
in five states in recent months in what is shaping up as one of
Australia's worst bushfire seasons.
By the end of November, almost 470,000 hectares (1.16
million acres) of land had been burned in Australia's most
populous state, New South Wales, alone and a handful of lives
lost.
The worst period for bushfires is usually December and
January, but firefighters this year have been battling blazes
since the winter month of July, with many deliberately lit.
Last Christmas, some of the worst ever bushfires ringed
Sydney, a city of four million people, burning through 770,000
hectares (1.9 million acres) and destroying 109 houses. The
fire service says 20,000 homes were saved from the flames.

Reut01:20 12-04-02

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(Updates number of houses destroyed, more fires)
By Michael Perry
SYDNEY, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Thousands of firefighters
struggled on Wednesday to control more than 60 bushfires that
ringed Sydney, destroying houses and disrupting power and
transport across Australia's largest city.
Sydney was taken by surprise by the bushfires which ignited
almost simultaneously within an hour during the afternoon as
temperatures soared and strong winds fanned flames, sending a
huge pall of smoke across the city to the ocean.
"We have over 60 fires burning around the metropolitan area
and we are resourcing them as we can," Rural Fire Service
Commissioner Phil Koperberg told Australian television.
Koperberg declared a bushfire emergency in six city areas.
Fire officials said the fires were not naturally ignited, but
were accidentally or deliberately lit by people.
Five officials said a handful of firefighters had suffered
burns and broken bones battling blazes. Local media reported
two residents had been taken to hospital with burns.
Media reported up to 19 houses were destroyed. Power
supplies were disrupted across the city of four million,
trapping people in lifts, cutting train services, and forcing
the Sydney Opera House to cancel performances on Wednesday
night.
Several residential areas were evacuated during the day and
into the night and surf lifesavers prepared boats to evacuate
residents from coastal suburbs surrounded by bushland.
Koperberg said one fire in Sydney's northwest had a four-km
(2.4-mile) front and was up to 20 km (12 miles) in length.
Another blaze forced Sydney's main army barracks to be
evacuated of non-essential personnel and burned a swathe across
the southwest of the city towards the coast.
"The fires have been travelling very, very quickly. We have
had reports of spotting (where burning ash blown by wind sparks
new fires) two to three km (miles) in front of fires. It makes
it difficult to get in front of the fires," Koperberg said.
On Wednesday night, bushland ridges around Sydney glowed
as fires continued to burn. Fire officials said blazes were
also burning on the coast south of Sydney and in the Hunter
Valley north of Sydney, one of Australia's major wine producing
areas.
Australia is in the grip of one of the worst droughts in
100 years and fire fighters have battled hundreds of bushfires
in five states in recent months in what is shaping up as one of
Australia's worst bushfire seasons.
Last Christmas, some of the worst ever bushfires ringed
Sydney, burning through 770,000 hectares (1.9 million acres)
and destroying 109 houses. The fire service says 20,000 homes
were saved from the flames.
GRIDLOCK
Some of Sydney's major west-bound roads were closed due to
the fires, creating gridlock as commuters tried to get home.
Drivers calling talk-back radio said they were forced to
turn on their car lights to drive through the thick black smoke
from one fire near the Sydney 2000 Olympics suburb of Homebush.
"This fire is huge, it's enormous," said a caller as one of
Sydney's major western freeways was closed.
The crisis saw hundreds of fire trucks and thousands of
firefighters scrambled to battle the blazes, along with two
special helicopters dumping tonnes of water on flames, leaving
only 18 fire engines on general duty for the rest of Sydney.
Koperberg warned firefighters had failed to control the
fires and faced a difficult night before strong winds and high
temperatures expected for Thursday again fanned the blazes.
"We have grave concerns. It is going to be a tremendous
challenge to make an impact tonight, we haven't made an impact
today," he said.
The worst period for bushfires is usually December and
January, but firefighters this year have been battling blazes
since the winter month of July, with many deliberately lit.
REUTERS

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SYDNEY, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Thousands of firefighters and
home owners armed with garden hoses battled bushfires around
Sydney on Thursday as helicopters flew blindly in the black
smoke dumping tonnes of water on flames.
Strong winds bringing dry air from the outback fanned the
fires for a second day, threatening to realise fears that this
year's drought, the worst in 100 years, will see the island
continent of 20 million suffer its worst bushfire season.
Thick black smoke billowed over Australia's largest city as
dozens of bushfires roared through semi-rural suburbs,
destroying at least 20 homes, and leaving one man dead.
The gusty conditions and temperatures of around 30 Celsius
(86 Fahrenheit) saw 60 fires that began on Wednesday suddenly
flare up again, stretching firefighting resources to the
maximum. There are more than 75 fires in New South Wales state.
"The immediate environs of Sydney have probably not faced a
threat like this for 20 to 30 years," said Phil Koperberg,
rural fire service commissioner for the state.
"We've seen four months of solid fire fighting...and that
position will stop when one of two things happen, either
there's nothing left to burn or it rains."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has offered the army
to help fight Sydney's bushfires.
In the northern suburb of Glenorie, where 15 houses were
burnt to mounds of blackened rubble overnight, residents on
Thursday hosed down buildings, while others packed their most
valued possessions -- photo albums, sports trophies and teddy
bears -- in their cars and fled.
Firefighters have declared Glenorie, where a fire is
burning on a 30 km (18 miles) front, as Sydney's main
flashpoint.
"I'M HOPING AND PRAYING"
One terrified kangaroo sought safety in a swimming pool.
"It's the first real bushfire I've been in, I'm hoping and
praying," James Calcondas told Reuters as he and his American
wife Donna pumped water from a swimming pool to dampen the roof
and walls of their home as smoke drifted in from the bush.
Helicopters roared unseen overhead while firefighters
waited at the Calcondas household, a declared "hot spot"
perched on a ridge. A wall of fire was racing through a valley
below and an eerie orange-yellow glow shone through the dark
smoke.
Koperberg said only one house was lost on Thursday. "There
are hundreds of houses out there today which have had fire up
to the front or back doorstep that are still standing," he
said.
But for some, the bushfires won the battle.
Glenorie resident Sandra Johansen was trapped on Wednesday
as a fireball hit her blazing home. She made a life-saving dash
for safety after hearing a car horn.
"It was just a big fireball. The house was burning. We
couldn't get out," recalled Sandra as she stood amongst the
blackened remains of her home.
"You know you are going to go (die) if you are in and you
know you are going to go if you stay in. We just took the risk
of opening the door and getting out and we ran."
All that is left standing of Johansen's home is a brick
chimney and part of the back wall. A front garden is now soot
-- a small garden sign declaring "He who plants a garden plants
happiness" -- and black skeletons that were once lush green
trees stand silent.
But it is the view from what was once Sandra's backyard
which shows the real ferocity of the bushfire which destroyed
15 homes along Old Northern Road at Glenorie.
Stretching as far as the eye can see is a valley which
looks like a blackened battlefield of burnt trees and sooty
boulders. The only sign of life was the flies buzzing on the
hot breeze.
"I have lost my animals and our possessions and we have
only what we are standing in," said Johansen.
ARSON SUSPECTED
Last Christmas a wall of flames ringed Sydney, a city of
four million people, with many of the blazes deliberately lit.
At least 30 of the Sydney fires now blazing began almost
simultaneously, raising suspicions of arson, while others may
have been sparked by discarded cigarette butts, officials said.
Fires are natural to the arid Australian bush, with
December and January usually the worst months, and with fingers
of bush extending into Sydney, fires are common in the city.
The fires last Christmas burned through 770,000 hectares
(1.9 million acres) and destroyed 109 houses around Sydney. By
the end of November this year, 470,000 hectares (1.16 million
acres) in New South Wales state had already been scorched.
REUTERS

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Powerful wildfires destroyed houses and
cars on the outskirts of Sydney on Thursday, but 3,000 firefighters
managed to save dozens of other dwellings.
Fire service spokesman John Winter said 18 homes had been razed
since the fires erupted Wednesday afternoon - fewer than previously
feared.
Television images showed flames engulfing buildings in the
northwestern Sydney suburb of Glenorie as residents and
firefighters tried to douse the flames.
"The saves have been quite incredible," said Phil Koperberg,
commissioner of New South Wales state Rural Fire Service. "The men
and women on the ground today have performed miraculously."
Hundreds of elderly people and children were evacuated as flames
bore down on their homes but fire officials urged others to stay
with their houses and hose them down to minimize damage.
A 73-year-old man died as he tried to herd horses away from a
wall of flames, according to media reports.
Extra firefighters were being transferred to Sydney, Australia's
most populous city, from other states to relieve their exhausted
colleagues.
Prime Minister John Howard also offered the nation's defense
forces to help battle the blazes which were fanned by hot, dry
winds from the Outback as temperatures nudged 86 degrees.
A pall of gray smoke drifted over downtown Sydney from fires
raging to the northwest and west of the city of 4 million. Other
blazes were burning out of control to the southwest.
After a relatively calm morning, fires started to pick up in the
early afternoon.
"There is no doubt the fires are stirring and threatening and
we can reasonably expect ... that there is going to be a lot more
activity before this day is out," said New South Wales Emergency
Services Minister Bob Debus.
Police said they arrested an 18-year-old student and charged him
with starting one of the blazes on Wednesday.
Others are believed to have been started by people tossing
cigarette butts out of car windows. New South Wales political
leader Bob Carr said throwing butts out of cars would be treated as
arson, which carries a maximum 14-year sentence.
"This is the most extreme form of anti-social behavior you can
see in our society," Carr told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
radio.
As well as thousands of firefighters on the ground, dozens of
water bombing helicopters and planes were in the air.
The main western highway in and out of Sydney was closed as a
fire started in the Blue Mountains about 55 miles west of the city.
In the intense heat, flames leaped 200 feet in the air and
oil-filled eucalyptus trees exploded.
Sandra Johansen said she, her husband and a friend were trapped
in their home in Glenorie while, just outside, five firefighters
huddled inside their fire truck as flames raged around them.
All were saved when two more firefighters appeared and carried
the eight to safety in another vehicle.
"They are our guardian angels - they saved all of our lives,"
Johansen said.

APTV 12-05-02 0441EST

[NJFFSA16]

SYDNEY, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Firefighters fought flames from
house to house in northwestern Sydney on Friday as gale-force
winds whipped up fierce bushfires threatening scores of homes
in Australia's main city.
Another firefront raged in the nearby Ku-ring-gai Chase
National Park that stretches through lush gorges of gum trees
to the gleaming foreshores of Sydney harbour, as 79 fires
continued to burn for a third day through New South Wales
state.
The body of an 81-year-old man was found in a burned-out
caravan in scorched bushland, bringing to two the number killed
since the latest fire emergency flared up on Wednesday. The
first death, of a 73-year-old man, was believed to have been
from a heart attack.
"It (the fire) is going like a steam engine," said Les
Smith, 65, as along with his neighbours he defended his
property in the suburb of Berowra Heights from an inferno that
surrounded their residential street on all fronts.
Thick grey smoke billowed around the homes as firefighters
and residents armed with hoses kept the flames at bay.
All night long the firefighters had dashed from house to
house, successfully preventing the fires from catching, and as
winds gusted up to 60 km (40 miles) per hour on Friday
afternoon, the desperate effort began again.
"We've got an almost unprecedented line of fire," rural
fire service commissioner Phil Koperberg told reporters.
But Koperberg added that weather conditions on Friday,
which saw temperatures drop 10 degrees Celsius to 23 Celsius
(73 Fahrenheit) from the previous day, were helping. Monday
would again see potentially devastating conditions, he said.
HUGE EFFORT
With the island continent of 20 million in the grip of one
of the most severe droughts in a century, firefighters have
been kept busy since the southern hemisphere's winter month of
July.
More than 4,000 firefighters and at least 80 water-bombing
aircraft have joined the fight against fires that officials say
could be far worse than those of last Christmas, when Sydney
was ringed by flames, and in fact among the worst in 30 years.
In northern Sydney, the charred landscape ran right up to
the doorsteps of dozens of homes, a testament to the
nail-biting efforts of fire brigade volunteers and residents.
Around 20 houses have been destroyed since Wednesday.
Reinforcements were being flown in from other states while
Prime Minister John Howard has ordered the army into the fray.
Strong winds saw one blaze double in size overnight to
16,000 ha (40,000 acres) and invade the Ku-ring-gai park.
In 1994, bushfires raged through Ku-ring-gai, reaching
within a few kilometres (miles) of the harbourside area of Lane
Cove.
Fire service spokeswoman Meeka Bailey said the firefighters
would not be able to douse that fire.
"It is milder today...(but) there'll still be winds that
will flare this fire," she said.
INCREDIBLE HULK
Back at Berowra Heights, the drone of helicopters,
including giant Sky Cranes dubbed "Elvis," "The Incredible
Hulk" and "Georgia Peach," which are each capable of dumping
nine tonnes of water at a time, could be heard through the
smoke overhead.
"Come on, hit it," one man shouted at the invisible
helicopters as they dropped their loads on the flames.
Fires are natural to the combustible Australian bush, and
are often lit by lightning. But the current blazes did not
coincide with any storms and, in many cases, investigators
suspect arson.
An 18-year-old mentally impaired man appeared in court on
Friday, charged with setting a blaze in the west which swept
across Sydney's main army barracks. He was refused bail.
Traffic chaos also struck the city of four million on
Friday after the bushfires closed the main exit routes to the
north.
Trucks parked on roadsides in lines that were tens of
kilometres (miles) long while police occasionally organised
escorted convoys to ease the congestion.
REUTERS

[NJFFSA16]

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Sparks and ash rained down on
Australia's most populous city Wednesday after waves of flame
jumped a river and roads and raced toward its suburbs.
Authorities said two elderly men died and 19 homes had been
destroyed by wildfires during the past two days.
Some 79 fires burned across New South Wales state, blackening
about 173,000 acres of forest and scrubland, the worst on the
outskirts of Sydney.
The sky over the city of 4 million people was shrouded in smoke
from fires raging on its north, northwest and southwest fringes.
The flames stabbed into the suburbs in two areas along tracts of
urban parklands.
Some major roads and rail routes into and around the city were
closed.
Authorities described the blazes as the worst wildfire crisis in
30 years.
"The reason the fires are behaving so badly, erratically,
unpredictably, is entirely due to the deficiency of moisture in the
vegetation which in turn is solely due to the drought," said Rural
Fire Service chief Phil Koperberg.
Firefighters have been warning for months that Sydney faced a
devastating wildfire season over the hot Southern Hemisphere
summer. Almost 90 percent of Australia has been declared
drought-stricken, and some parts of the country are facing their
driest conditions in a century.
More than 4,500 firefighters working 12-hour shifts beat back
flames with the help of water-bombing aircraft. In suburban areas
of Sydney, residents - coughing and with tears streaming from their
eyes - used garden hoses, buckets, blankets and even towels to
protect their homes.
One resident, Bob Crowley, watched in horror as flames swept
over his house in Dural, northwest of Sydney, but left it virtually
unscathed.
"All of a sudden the wind blew a big firestorm over the top.
Everyone was running for their lives. We are just lucky the wind
changed and saved us," he said. "My skin was burning as I was
running. I have never been scared in my life like that."
Police suspect some fires were deliberately started.
An 18-year-old appeared in a court on arson charges on Friday
and was remanded in custody until Jan. 31. He faces a maximum
14-year prison sentence if convicted. Other fires might have been
started by cigarette butts tossed out of cars, fire officials said.
Television images showed sheets of fire leaping from
tree-to-tree in the dense forests that ring Sydney. Oil-rich
eucalyptus trees burst into flames.
The wildfires also caused havoc in the Blue Mountains west of
Sydney, where blazes last Christmas devastated dozens of homes.
On Friday, police recovered the body of an 81-year-old man in a
destroyed trailer home northwest of Sydney.
A 73-year-old man died of a heart attack on Wednesday after he
tried to round up and save a herd of horses.
Hot, dry Outback winds picked up Friday afternoon and so did the
fires' ferocity. The winds were expected to subside over the
weekend, then pick up to 50 mph on Monday.
"We've got 72 hours to do what is impossible to do in 72 hours
and that's extinguish all that fire," Koperberg said.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[lutan1]

These fires over here are huge!:(

Are you guys seeing much footage on TV of it?

[NJFFSA16]

There has been some sporadic coverage....however, the Iraq hype, Wynona Ryder and Michael Jackson seem to occupy the headlines.:rolleyes:

[NJFFSA16]

SYDNEY, Dec 9 (Reuters) - As light rain began falling on
Sydney's western outskirts on Monday, fire officials said a
bushfire crisis around Australia's largest city had eased.
Thousands of weary firefighters began to relax after
battling scores of blazes which had ringed Sydney since last
Wednesday.
The fires killed one man, destroyed about 50 homes and left
the city of some four million people blanketed under a thick
pall of pungent smoke.
Rural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperberg said there
was still plenty of work to do, cleaning up after the fires and
working on containment lines to keep those still alight in
check.
"In Sydney...the problem is dissipating," Koperberg said.
"I have to tell you that the firefighters will be out there
for many, many days yet performing the arduous, dirty,
labour-intensive task of mopping up," he told reporters.
Firefighters were still working to douse spot fires,
sometimes using aerial waterbombing, and continued extensive
backburning of tinder-dry bushland to starve fires of fuel.
A lot of their work was still focused on the Blue Mountains
to the city's west, where fires flared viciously on Sunday and
licked at the doorstep of a landmark, 98-year-old hotel. Flames
leapt 30-40 metres (98-130 feet) high as they approached the
hotel but were beaten back by firefighters.
A light rain began drizzling on the Blue Mountains on
Monday afternoon and a southerly change was forecast to bring
showers to other parts of Sydney late on Monday and Tuesday.
Smiling firefighters in the mountains played cricket on the
roadside or sat, slumped in plastic chairs enjoying a salad
lunch, watching the gathering dark clouds overhead.
"The weather is finally going to work in our favour," said
fire official John Winter. "We hope the rain coming with this
change will be sufficient to douse some of the fires."
The crisis around Sydney began last Wednesday, when about
60 fires ignited around the city within an hour.
Antique dealer Philip Lipscombe saw his mountain home burn
on Sunday and on Monday morning inspected his broken and
waterlogged antique collection scattered across his lawn.
"We had a 50-year collection and it's just gone, it's just
gone," Lipscombe told reporters. Lipscombe said a giant
helitanker had dumped water on his house to douse the fire, but
the sheer weight of the water saw the old house collapse.
"Literally my life is gone. We have worked hard to buy the
place and now we are into our retirement years, we were hoping
to settle down, but we can't, its been wiped out," he said.
But like many Sydney residents who lost their homes,
Lipscombe vowed to stay in the bush suburb and rebuild his
life.
"We will start again. We will come back for more. We will
rebuild," he said.
Australia is in the grip of one of the worst droughts in
100 years and there are now 4,500 firefighters battling some 65
fires throughout New South Wales state. The latest fires have
burnt 120,000 hectares (296,000 acres) in the state.
By end-November this year, a total of 470,000 hectares
(1.16 million acres) in New South Wales had been scorched.
New South Wales state premier Bob Carr has estimated that
the cost of the Sydney bushfire emergency is expected to be
well over A$100 million ($56 million).
Last Christmas a wall of flames ringed Sydney and the fire
service has been warning since the first fires flared up in the
winter month of July that this year could be far worse.
The fires last Christmas burned through 770,000 hectares
(1.9 million acres) and destroyed 109 houses around Sydney.
Fires are natural to the arid bush, with December and
January usually the worst months, but urban sprawl has blurred
the barrier between metropolitan Australia and the outback.

[NJFFSA16]

SYDNEY, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Soaking rain fell on Sydney on
Tuesday to end the city's six-day bushfire emergency that
killed one man, destroyed around 50 homes and left large tracts
of bush scorched and blackened.
But officials said more hot, dry weather was forecast ahead
of Christmas and the fires were expected to flare again.
Australia is tinderbox dry due to one of the worst droughts in
100 years.
After nine days, a fire ban was lifted across New South
Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state, where 4,500
firefighters have been battling more than 60 fires. Some fires
are still burning.
"It has quietened down a fair bit with this rain, but it is
still not over yet," NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman John
Winter told reporters.
"The overnight rain will be absorbed by the dry ground and
lessen the intensity of the active fire, but is not enough to
extinguish the fires," Winter said.
There are still 57 fires burning across NSW, with 120,000
hectares (296,000 acres) burnt. The cost of the Sydney fires is
expected to be well over A$100 million (US$54 million).
Fire officials said some of the fires were so large it
would take days of heavy rain to extinguish them, while burning
tree stumps could spark new blazes. Around 1,000 firefighters
would spend Tuesday patrolling fire areas for smouldering
stumps.
"We have got to do a few things yet to ensure the fires
don't flare up again so there is no opportunity for
complacency," said Winter.
Firefighters have been battling bushfires since July, in
the middle of Australia's winter. By the end of November,
470,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) in New South Wales had
been scorched.
Last Christmas a wall of flames ringed Sydney, destroying
109 houses, and the fire service has warned this year could be
worse.
Fires are natural to the arid bush, with December and
January usually the worst months, and urban sprawl has blurred
the barrier between metropolitan Australia and the outback.

[stillPSFB]

Plenty more action coming up from Saturday onwards judging by the weather forecasts. Here we go again...

[stillPSFB]

It's going to be on for every man and his dog here on Saturday, the forecast is for 115+ degrees, howling winds and low single-digit humidity :( Better start praying for us Brothers, coz nothing else is gonna work with everything being so dry.

[NJFFSA16]

Sometimes the best offense....is a good defense! Don't be afraid to drop back ten...and punt.

Be Safe!

[stillPSFB]

Drop back ten... and RLF might be the option of choice if the forecast conditions happen on Saturday, because it is going to be seriously ugly. Relative humidity is now forecast to be just 4% - ouch! Then on Sunday Sydney is going to cop it again with horrendous fire weather forecast up there.