http://www.boston.com/dailynews/364/world/Arsonists_set_more_bush_fires_:.shtml

Arsonists set more bush fires set in Australia; smoke chokes Sydney

By Emma Tinkler, Associated Press, 12/30/2001 14:05

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) Arsonists set more bush fires Sunday south of Australia's largest city, fueling a haze of gray smoke that diverted jets from the airport, obscured landmarks and triggered alarms in malls and buildings.

Lower-than-predicted temperatures helped firefighters contain hundreds of bush fires raging for a week across Australia's most populous state, but officials refused to say the crisis was over.

They warned that the fires could flare again because forests remain tinder dry and meteorologists still predict the return of dangerously hot weather.

''We're not optimistic about the weather in the next 72 hours,'' New South Wales state fire chief Phil Koperberg said.

Sunday temperatures did not climb above 100 as predicted, but fires continued to burn north, west and south of the city.

For more than a week, about 100 fires almost half of them deliberately lighted have destroyed 150 homes and razed hundreds of thousands of acres of forest and farmland. No deaths have been reported, but more than 4,400 people have been evacuated.

Insurance officials estimate damages at more than $25 million.

So far, six people have been arrested for allegedly starting fires. Other arsonists remain at large, police said.

On Sunday, arsonists started five blazes south of Sydney. New South Wales Premier Bob Carr called them acts of ''wickedness.''

The fires sent smoke swirling through downtown streets, shopping malls and office buildings, setting off dozens of fire alarms and prompting worried residents to flood emergency services telephone lines with calls.

Views of Sydney's famous opera house and bridge on its picturesque waterfront also were shrouded in smoke.

With visibility poor, some jetliners were diverted from Sydney Airport and dozens of flights were delayed, although the airport was partially operating.

The most dangerous fires were along the city's southwest boundary and in the Blue Mountains national park, 50 miles west of Sydney.

Firefighters said visibility there was less than 100 yards Sunday, hampering efforts to locate fires in the region's heavily forested and rugged terrain. Firefighters started controlled burns and area residents watered down their houses as protection.

National parks were closed across the state. Wildlife officials estimated that thousands of animals have died or have been injured.

''Larger mammals, such as wallabies, kangaroos and koalas, are most at risk because they cannot move fast enough to escape fire,'' said Julie Barnes, a veterinarian at Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo.

Jill Dark of the Wildlife Information and Rescue Service said many possums and wallabies had been rescued by volunteers and residents.

''It's very distressing for people who find a little possum with all its little whiskers burned off and its paws burned,'' she said.

Nearly 80 percent of the 40,000-acre Royal National Park in Sydney's south is blackened. It is the world's second-oldest national park after Yellowstone.

Wildlife officials said the park would have to be fire-free for at least 10 years to make a full ecological recovery.

Australia's forests are dominated by eucalyptus and other oil-based trees that burn easily but regenerate quickly after fires.

-- Anonymous, December 30, 2001

Answers

The conditions in Sydney are as bad as you are seeing on your news service. I can normally see Sydney Harbour from my home but I have not seen it for the past week due to the thick smoke. 6000 sqm have been burnt out on all 3 sides of outer Sydney. Some national parks have been 100% burnt out. Very, very bad indeed. Luckily no one has been killed.

-- Anonymous, December 31, 2001

Greg, thanks for the on-the-scenes report.

I apologize if this is rude of me to say, but I guess I have always felt sorry for those downunder who had to celebrate Christmas during the warmest time of the year. (Sort of like the heathens in So. California, too.) All those fires must just make it more surreal.

There's still the matter of the fires, half of them, which were not intentionally set. Must be pretty dry right now.

-- Anonymous, December 31, 2001

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/001/world/Fires_come_within_11_miles_o f_:.shtml

Fires come within 11 miles of downtown Sydney the closest yet since `black Christmas' began

By Geoff Spencer, Associated Press, 1/1/2002 22:15

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) Thick smoke choked the skies over Australia's largest city on Wednesday as forest fires raged in and around Sydney, stretching a 20,000-member fire fighting force to its limit and threatening hundreds of homes.

''It is about as bad a picture as you could conjure up,'' said Phil Koperberg, New South Wales state fire chief.

Light white ash fell on office blocks Wednesday and the smell of smoke permeated air conditioning systems. The flames were the closest to the heart of Australia's largest city since the bush fires in New South Wales state began Christmas Eve, but authorities said the downtown area was not in danger.

The situation was set to worsen later in the day with forecasts of summer temperatures as high as 100 degrees and dry Outback wind gusts.

Scores of blazes were burning out of control, many just around Sydney, home to 4 million people. Flames jumped firebreaks and containment lines that had been set up by thousands of mainly volunteer firefighters over the weekend.

In the suburbs, where 150 homes have burned, firefighters worked to save houses from fires just yards away.

''The smoke was blinding,'' said Claire Marnane, who lives in one of the threatened Sydney suburbs. ''We could hear the sap from inside trees exploding, it was so hot.''

More than half the 100 ''black Christmas'' fires burning since Dec. 24 have been deliberately lit, police said. Police said they had arrested 20 suspects, including 14 children, and were searching for others. The six adult suspects face a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison if convicted of arson.

''We know who the arsonists are. It's a matter of getting the evidence and making it stick and putting them away for a very long time,'' said New South Wales Premier Bob Carr.

Police were hunting a man who they say started a massive fire on Tuesday that raced down a corridor of tinder-dry parkland through several affluent Sydney suburbs.

In a desperate battle to bring the fire under control, hundreds of firefighters filled buckets from suburban swimming pools.

Helicopters dumped water as 60-foot flames spewed clouds of thick, black smoke and came within feet of homes.

Overnight, as winds dropped and the blaze eased, fire crews worked hard to build firebreaks to protect neighboring suburbs.

But by Wednesday morning, hot westerly winds regained their strength and whipped the flames. Red hot embers were blown into the air to start new spot fires.

''The next 24 hours won't give us any letup,'' said John Winter of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service. ''We are really here for the long haul.''

There have been no casualties from the blazes. In addition to the 150 destroyed homes, the fires have blackened 741,000 acres of forest and farmland.

Officials said fire crews saved all 250 homes that had been threatened in Sydney, but admitted that the power and speed of the inferno surprised them.

''This fire is burning quite ferociously,'' said state fire chief Phil Koperberg. ''The situation remains grave at best.''

Hundreds of firefighters in yellow jackets braved black smoke and fought flames from backyards and gardens in the suburbs of Pennant Hills, North Epping and South Turramurra.

Residents were ordered to stay indoors. Officials said conditions were too dangerous for mass evacuations. Some homeowners sprayed their homes with garden hoses.

Separately, firefighters extinguished a large forest fire on the southern outskirts of Canberra, the national capital, 155 miles to the southwest of Sydney.

About 30 miles northwest of here, fires forced dozens of residents from homes in the Blue Mountains, as well as from homes in bushland along the Hawkesbury River, 25 miles to the north. Scores of people were also evacuated from Sussex Inlet, 60 miles south.

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2002