Sydney fire keeps city on high alert
High winds and temperatures ensure bush blaze remains a threat for firefighters
FJulia Carlisle
irefighters remain on high alert around a huge bushfire believed to be deliberately lit in southwest Sydney with winds predicted to pick up. The fire, which started on Saturday afternoon, has burnt more than 2400ha and continues to burn in towards Barden Ridge. Firefighters have worked backburning around Voyager Point and Holsworthy.
Heathcote Road remained closed yesterday in both directions from Lucas Heights to Holsworthy.
“I can’t believe homes were not lost in this fire,” said RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, praising the work of firefighters and residents who followed their bushfire survival plan.
“Yesterday we had over 500 firefighters working on the fire and that has been scaled down overnight to 250 firefighters still working on the ground,” he told Network Seven.
Strong winds fuelled the blaze all weekend — pushing residents and firefighters to their limits.
A strike force has been established to investigate the blaze which is believed to have started in Casula.
“It is highly suspicious in the absence of any other cause like lightning. As we say all the time, no one tolerates this in the community,” said Fitzsimmons.
“We don’t tolerate this sort of thing. It is irresponsible, criminal and how dare anybody if they’re involved in this put the lives of firefighters at risk and all those communities that were in the path of this fire.”
Conditions yesterday helped the firefighting effort but winds were expected to pick up to 35km/h overnight.
High temperatures remain a cause for concern, Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers warned.
“I think we’ve got a long way to go before we’re out of the woods,” he told the Nine Network.
The RFS cautioned that while the threat had eased, residents in the areas of Voyager Point, Pleasure Point, Sandy Point, Alfords Point, Barden Ridge, Illawong, Menai and Bangor should continue to monitor the situation and be prepared to activate bushfire survival plans should conditions change.
RFS spokesman Greg Allan had said on Sunday some properties had been damaged.
Residents in the suburbs were warned of the danger of ember attacks as many scrambled on Sunday with hoses and buckets to protect their houses.
Daniel Borg, who lives on Hall Drive in Menai alongside bushland, admitted it was concerning to see how close the flames came. “It was pretty scary,” he said when finally opening a beer, thankful his house came with sprinklers on the roof.