NSW inferno set to worsen
THOUSANDS of emergency services personnel battling outof-control fires across New South Wales are bracing for worsening conditions, while a helicopter crashed yesterday while fighting one of the blazes on the Mid North Coast.
There were close to 100 bushfires burning across the state yesterday evening. Almost half of them were out of control, with a huge blaze larger than Sydney having formed northwest of the city.
A privately contracted helicopter crashed while fighting the Jarrah Rd fire, south of Bulahdelah.
The pilot, who was the only person on board, escaped injury, while firefighters doused a resulting engine fire.
A Rural Fire Service (RFS) spokesman said all aircraft in the area had been grounded for routine maintenance.
Fourteen fires were burning at a ‘‘watch and act’’ level yesterday evening, including the blaze at Gospers Mountain, which was almost 300,000 hectares in size.
It is one of eight out-of-control fires that are burning in a massive grouping stretching from Sydney’s outskirts past the Hawkesbury to western areas of the Central Coast and into the Hunter region.
‘‘They are obviously a key focus today, given the hot, dry and windy conditions that we’re expecting,’’ RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.
A fire at Green Wattle Creek, southwest of Sydney, is still burning out of control and remains at a ‘‘watch and act’’ level, having already destroyed 5400 hectares of bushland.
RFS spokesman Greg Allan said the volatile conditions caused by the winds could stoke the fires to again reach emergency levels.
More than 2 million hectares of bushland has been destroyed by flames this fire season, with Fitzsimmons warning that the worst might still be ahead. Temperatures are predicted to rise to the low 30s by Tuesday.
Fitzsimmons said there might not be much respite for firefighters, with no signs of meaningful rainfall until late January or early February.
‘‘[That] means we’ve got very significant potential to see a lot more countryside, a lot more communities being impacted by fire as we go into the typically hotter months of the year.
‘‘It’s a tough couple of months ahead yet, and we’ve already seen the horrific consequences of fire so far this season.’’
More than 2100 people are fighting the fires across the state. About 1600 of them are firefighters.
A group of 21 specialty firefighters from the United States has arrived in Australia, following 21 of their Canadian
Rural Fire Service Commissioner
counterparts.
While the Canadians are being distributed to the north of the state, the Americans will be assigned to areas in the Sydney Basin or southern NSW.
A total fire ban is in place for eight regions across the state, including Sydney, the Far North Coast, the Greater Hunter, the Illawarra and the Central Ranges.
As fires rage to the north, residents of Bawley Point are celebrating their escape from a blaze that threatened homes on Friday.
But they’ve been warned that the fire could double in size and reach nearby Moruya.
The bushfires that ravaged the Mid North Coast last month are still burning, with a blaze near Hickeys Creek still at a ‘‘watch and act’’ level. It has already burnt through 134,000ha.
Hundreds of thousands of hectares of bushland have been destroyed between Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour, killing scores of koalas and other native animals.
In Taree, a woman has been charged with stealing materials and threatening two fencing contractors working to repair fire damage.
‘‘It’s a tough couple of months ahead yet, and we’ve already seen the horrific consequences of fire so far.’’ Shane Fitzsimmons,