Welcome cooler temperatures for the Sydney and southern highlands regions today, but strong winds are still fanning the flame of the bushfires. Plumes of smoke resembling atom bomb explosions can be seen from high vantage points around Sydney today.
No matter where you go, there is the acrid smell of burnt eucalyptus trees. The strong winds are blowing ash into homes and into your eyes as you venture out of doors.
Here again, is the evening news report:
| 20:02 AEST Fri 6 Dec 2002 | ||||
| Bushfire crisis deepens
Listen to Audio One of the worst bushfire disasters to hit NSW in 30 years escalated, with the death of an elderly man and more property destruction as strong winds continued to fuel the flames. Higher humidity and milder temperatures were overridden by the unrelenting winds that fanned the worst of the wildfires on Sydney's north, south and west. Authorities discovered the body of a 81-year-old man incinerated in his caravan at Maroota, to the north of Sydney. The man's son contacted emergency services late Thursday but police were unable to reach the property because of the intensity of the flames. His charred remains were recovered about the same time as fire took hold in Canoelands, also to Sydney's north, where firefighters were unable to save at least one home. More than 4,500 firefighters, including 200 volunteers from Victoria and South Australia, were now fighting 79 blazes across the state. More SA firefighters will join the ranks on Sunday. Firefighters had 72 hours to control as many bushfires as possible across the state before blistering weather conditions returned on Monday, Rural Fire Service (RFS) chief Phil Koperberg warned today. Many of the fires around NSW are believed to have been deliberately lit, and NSW Police Minister Michael Costa today vowed to penalise smokers throwing butts from cars - an offence responsible for at least one blaze. A teenaged boy was the first to face court on arson charges related to the latest bushfires. Mark Joseph Gallagher, 18, of Glenfield, was accused of starting a fire at Holsworthy that spread to Menai and Lucas Heights, destroying three homes and causing $1.5 million damage. He was refused bail in Liverpool Local Court. Mr Koperberg said the main fire threat was north of Sydney around the Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers with embers flying up to 10 kilometres away from the blaze. "We've got an almost unprecedented line of fire between Nepean River in the west and the mouth of the Hawkesbury in the east," he told reporters at the RFS headquarters in Rosehill. Other fires burning since Wednesday at Shoalhaven on the NSW South Coast had eased off, however they could still threaten property in southwest Nowra, NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman Cameron Wade said. Fires in the Hunter region north of Sydney had also begun to pick up and a new fire had broken out near Tamworth at Moonbie where the New England Highway was closed north of Tamworth and properties could be under threat, he said. The bushfires caused power failures and water shortages, threatened communications infrastructure on the central coast and closed public schools throughout fire-affected regions. Commuters also suffered with fires closing a major link road between Sydney and Newcastle for the second time in 24 hours.
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Edited by - ozziepost on 6 December 2002 7:20:36