Sydney firefighters brace for new onslaught

Firecrews are working around the clock to keep the fires in check

SYDNEY, Australia -- Cooler weekend weather is helping Australian firefighters as they battle bush fires in the southeastern state of New South Wales.

However, forecasters are warning that weather conditions will deteriorate yet again within the next 48 hours, bringing soaring temperatures and strong gusting dry winds.

Fire officials say that such conditions could transform blazes in the north and northwest of Sydney into one huge fire front.

More than 100 bush fires, half of which police say were started deliberately, have been burning across New South Wales since Christmas Eve.

Although so far there have been no deaths or serious injuries reported, 170 houses have been destroyed and more than 300,000 hectares of land scorched by the fires.

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Meanwhile pressure is growing for the government to take a tougher line on arsonists or "firebugs" blamed for starting many of the blazes.

State Premier Bob Carr said Saturday he supported proposals for a formal register of known arsonists.

"I don't think we can be tough enough with people who go out and light fires and get a sense of fulfillment out of the damage, the destruction and even the loss of life they've caused," he told Australia's ABC Radio.

With temperatures briefly dropping Saturday, firefighters took advantage of the kinder weather to strengthen firebreaks and containment lines around some of the fiercest fires.

Some fires though have proved too big to tackle head-on and burned out of control north, west and south of Australia's largest city.

The biggest was raging through a national park near the tiny town of Colo Heights, 60 kilometers (37 miles) northwest of Sydney.

Firefighters said the blaze had jumped a highway and was heading into rugged bushland that was inaccessible to fire crews.

"It is just monstrous in size," Cameron Wade of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service told the Associated Press.

"I don't have the figures. But looking at it on the map it takes up a huge amount of space," he said.

Residents in the area were being ordered to evacuate their homes as a precaution amid fears that the fire might join up with several others burning nearby.

Another large fire was burning in the Blue Mountains, 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Sydney, threatening scores of houses with flames soaring more than 30 meters (100 feet) above the ground.