Bushfire out of Control in Sydney's North
Saturday January 19, 2013 Source: AAP
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Around 50 firefighters are battling a bushfire burning out of control near properties in Sydney's north.
NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) said the 200-hectare fire was burning at Lovett Bay in the Ku-ring-gai national park.
An RFS spokesman told AAP shortly before 10.30am local time (12.30pm NZT) on Saturday the fire was burning near properties but was not a direct threat to any of them.
He said there were no mandatory evacuations being carried out, but campers at The Basin camping ground in the national park had been advised to leave.
They are being transported out by ferry because West Head Road is closed, he said.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
Motorists were being advised to avoid the area.
On its website, the RFS said firefighters are working to establish containment lines.
Smoke is impacting Terrey Hills, the northern beaches and north shore.
'Very, very challenging' fire day in NSW
It comes after what firefighters described as a "very, very, challenging" day in New South Wales, where two properties were destroyed, a property owner hospitalised and several firefighters collapsed after battling bushfires in scorching temperatures yesterday.
The number of total fires burning in NSW rose to 120 on Friday after a day of intense heat and gusts of up to 90km/h fanned the flames of existing fires and sparked new blazes.
Twenty-six of those were uncontained as of 11pm local time on Friday (1am on Saturday NZT).
"It's been a really, really challenging day for firefighters across the state," an RFS spokeswoman told AAP.
"It didn't get into catastrophic, but it was up at the high end of extreme in a number of places.
"And while the cool change will certainly provide some relief, we've got many large bushfires burning that are not going to be wrapped up just because the temperatures drop."
Disaster struck in the Bega Valley on Friday evening after a new bushfire west of Merimbula destroyed two properties and two sheds in the Millingandi area.
It brings to 53 the number of properties destroyed in the devastating NSW fires this year.
That fire crossed the Princes Highway on Friday afternoon and was threatening more properties between Wolumla and Millingandi, with firefighters working desperately thorough the night to contain it, the RFS said.
At Nowra, a rural property owner was taken to hospital after an "erratic" fire at Barringella Creek swept through a farm and destroyed a shed on the town's outskirts.
The bushfire, burning 12km southwest of Nowra, was downgraded to `watch and act' on Friday, but there were still concerns some properties could be at risk if the wind changed.
Temperatures across the state were well into the 40s, sparking a number of blazes, including a fast moving grassfire at Boorowa, east of Young.
Fears the town of 1000 people would come under threat were assuaged when the fire line closest to it was contained.
However, it then changed direction and was threatening properties at Douglas Gap and Campbellfields roads.
In Sydney, which recorded its hottest-ever temperature of 45.8C, a fire broke out in the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park, sending smoke and burning embers across the northern suburbs.
Firefighters were expected to work through the night to protect properties in the area.
Meanwhile, fires in Campbelltown and Marsden Park in the west were contained relatively quickly.
The state's most damaging blaze in the Warrumbungle National Park west of Coonabarabran continued unabated throughout the day, with more than 170 firefighters battling the 46,000-hectare fire.
Also of concern was a fire started by a torched car near Cessnock, in the Hunter region, which caused the evacuation of some residents.
Rain brought some relief to conditions there on Friday night, but it also put paid to firefighters' backburning efforts.
A number of firefighters collapsed as they worked to protect homes from blazes in "furnace-like" conditions.
"We're having fires popping up all over the state," RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said.
"We've had a number of firefighters collapse with heat exhaustion.
"It's been incredibly hot for them."
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) was predicting a cool change for much of NSW over the weekend, bringing much lower temperatures and a strong chance of rain.
"It's going to bring the fire danger ratings right down," a BoM spokesman said.
Massive fire threatens Victorian town
Meanwhile, a massive fire burning in Victoria's east is headed towards Licola, but authorities say the tiny town is not under immediate threat.
Benign weather overnight has slowed the 50,000-hectare fire with the main concern now Licola, which has been cut off and where about 10 residents and 30 firefighters remain.
The fire, which has destroyed about nine homes, is travelling northeast with a chance it will impact the town.
"Licola is now really in the path of the fire under the south-westerly winds we're now experiencing," CFA state duty officer Gary Weir told Fairfax Radio on Saturday morning.
"The fire's not doing much at the moment but it will probably ultimately move into Licola, hopefully not too fiercely."
A State Control Centre spokeswoman said the edge of the slow-moving fire was about 15km from the town but it was not under immediate threat.
Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said additional air resources had been placed on standby to help fight the Gippsland fires, with the Elvis aircrane out of action due to a mechanical fault.
"The slightly cooler conditions across the state, and short flight times, have allowed us to place additional resources on standby for the Gippsland fires," Lapsley said in a statement on Saturday.
"We will monitor the situation, including lightning strikes that occurred in the northeast overnight, before determining where and when the additional resources will be deployed."
There are 14 aircraft, 70 trucks and more than 270 personnel currently working on the Gippsland fires.
Lines of scorched earth and huge smoke plumes from wild fires in Australia were visible from th on January 8, 2013. Credit: NASA/Chris Hadfield
Intense wild fires, or bush fires as they are called in Australia, are burning out of control across southeast Australia with authorities describing the condition as “catastrophic.” The huge fires were easily visible from the International Space Station on Tuesday and onboard, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has been watching from above.
See more of his images below:
Officials say more than 130 fires, many uncontained, are burning in the heavily populated New South Wales state, where dry conditions are fueling the fires as temperatures reached 45 degrees and wind gusts reached more than 100 kilometers per hour.
Huge plumes of smoke from bush fires in Australia were visible from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Chris Hadfield.
In Tasmania, an island south of Australia, rescue officials are still trying to locate around 100 residents who have been missing after a fire tore through a village, destroying dozens of homes. You can see images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite that were taken on January 7, 2013.
Australian Bush Fires Colour NZ's Skyline
Saturday January 19, 2013 Source: ONE News / AAP
continued...... Australia Tracks Arsonists....
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