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Firefighters gaining upper hand in Sydney fires
SYDNEY, Australia -- Cooler, calmer weather and the prospect of rain has Sydney fire authorities cautiously confident that they can gain the upper hand on about 70 blazes that have threatened the city since last Wednesday. Around 4,500 firefighters and up to 90 aircraft have been used to battle the fires which have now claimed one life and destroyed 50 homes. An acrid pall of smoke hangs over the city of 4 million Monday after firecrews undertook extensive back-burning efforts over the weekend in an effort to contain the most threatening of the firefronts in the north, south and west of Sydney. While authorities are hopeful the improved conditions will give them a chance to take control of the situation, they warn that sudden wind changes can still cause whip up fires that will quickly threaten property and lives. Firefighters are still concentrating on property protection in the worst-hit areas, with there being little prospect of putting out the bulk of the blazes unless there is significant rainfall. "There's certainly no opportunity for complacency. The work is still ahead of us in terms of the overall firefighting effort," fire service spokesman John Winter told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Monday. "While the fires are less likely to be running strongly, we're still going to need a lot of firefighting work done." Mid-afternoon is the most threatening time for the Sydney fires as winds strengthen and change direction and temperatures increase. Forecasters are predicting a maximum temperature of 25 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) Monday, which, while still warm, is a far cry from the 40 degree temperatures endured last week. Fires in the Blue Mountains to Sydney's west and blazes north of Sydney at Berowra Waters and Brooklyn are still causing the most concern. On Sunday, Australia's bushfire crisis shifted dramatically to the picturesque Blue Mountains where helicopters were dropping water bombs on a fresh blaze to try to stop it reaching a historic landmark hotel. Flames 30-40 metres (98-130 feet) high swept toward the rambling, 98-year-old Hydro Majestic Hotel perched on the edge of the Megalong Valley in the Blue Mountains 120 km (75 miles) west of Sydney. "It sounds like 'Apocalypse Now' with so many helicopters overhead," Jill Shepherd of the nearby Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre told Sky News, referring to a Vietnam War film.
"We're losing our concentration," she said. Guests at the Hydro Majestic were ushered to the far end of the hotel away from the approaching fire, journalists at the scene said. Hotel staff, reached by telephone, declined to comment. With hotel guests watching the drama, helicopters swooped over the flames with water bombs to try to contain the blaze. The 63-room Hydro Majestic is a major tourist attraction that was at the center of Sydney's social scene in the 1920s and 1930s. Fires at the worst troublespot in recent days, the northern suburb of Berowra, were brought under control on Sunday. Fires at Menai in Sydney's south, where an arsonist started the blaze, were also contained. But the fickle weather kept authorities guessing and winds of up to 50 km an hour (31 mph) whipped a fresh fire past containment lines in the Shoalhaven, a coastal bushland area about 120 km (80 miles) south of Sydney. Inspecting the damage, Prime Minister John Howard and New South Wales Premier Bob Carr saw blackened trees north of Sydney. "Containment lines (are) holding at this stage but we're very worried about the wind blowing up strongly," Carr said. Worst in 100 yearsRural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperberg, a veteran of Sydney bushfire campaigns, said better weather could mean the worst fires could begin to be mopped up by mid-week. "Conditions are easing, but it's still going to take a good couple of weeks to mop up," said Rural Fire Service spokeswoman Nicole Ingram. But some properties were still under threat in valleys around Berowra, in nearby Hornsby Heights, in the Blue Mountains and in the Shoalhaven, Fire Services spokesman Cameron Wade said. "(But) by and large the lines of the interface between bushland and suburbia have held," Carr said. Sydney's bushfires, a repeat of serious fires last Christmas day and in 1994, have been spawned by one of the worst droughts in 100 years in the world's driest continent. "This is Australia," Premier Carr said on Sunday. Reuters contributed to this report.
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