Christmas Day has brought devastation all around Sydney. Ash is falling from the sky and blowing around the homes of western Sydney residents. The sky is black with smoke and house lights are switched on during the middle of the day. Here are news reports of the Sydney crisis as well as the situation today in Queeensland.
======================================================================
20:03 AEDST Tue 25 Dec 2001
Christmas bushfires devastate NSW
Homes were destroyed, towns isolated and major highways cut as bushfires raged across NSW, blanketing the state in a smoky brown haze.
At least a dozen homes were destroyed on Sydney's western outskirts with hundreds more under threat as wildfires jumped bridges and rivers, leaving firefighters battling control them.
Scorching temperatures, strong winds and low humidity fanned the flames with little relief in sight and a long night ahead.
It was a bleak Christmas Day for 5,000 men and women fighting the 70 fires burning across NSW and the thousands of people scrambling to secure their homes.
Major roads and highways were closed to traffic, stranding motorists and throwing the travel plans of thousands of holidaymakers into chaos.
Fires roared through Mulgoa, Penrith, Warragamba and Kurrajong on Sydney's outskirts, reducing homes to ashes.
Warragamba and Silverdale have been isolated, leaving more than 5,000 people cut off.
Power has also been cut to some homes on the south coast.
A NSW fire brigade officer was injured when a roof collapsed on him at Mulgoa and dozens others have suffered minor injuries.
Though the fires were not as widespread as in 1994, the conditions were comparable, with the Rural Fire Service predicting worse to come.
Strong winds were blowing from the west at 90kph making it impossible to contain the blazes and causing countless spot fires.
The bushfires closed roads across the state including the Pacific Highway on the north coast, the Princes Highway south, Great Western Highway in western Sydney and all roads south of Sydney to Wollongong.
The road closures threw the travel plans of thousands into chaos and authorities have urged motorists not to travel west.
Residents were evacuated in Queanbeyan near Canberra as flames moved dangerously close to a fuel depot and a hospital near Wollongong was also evacuated.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service evacuated more than 3,000 people from the Royal National Park in Sydney's south as fires flared nearby and all parks and remote walking tracks have been closed until further notice.
"We have little or no relief in sight with the weather and we expect conditions to worsen," RFS spokesman John Winter said.
"The fires are so erratic that crews are essentially doing nothing more than trying to protect property as the fire fronts come through."
A Glenbrook resident, Lisa, said there were bushfires nearby on Monday but backburning had been conducted overnight.
"Today as I sit here in my house and everyone's watering, we're watching flames come up our backyard," she said on Sydney radio.
"The flames are right on our backyard now, it's quite critical.
"They've got hoses out, my 82-year-old grandfather is out there hosing, my husband's on the roof, my baby's at my parents across from Glenbrook."
NSW Emergency Services Minister Bob Debus said it was beyond firefighters' capabilities to save all property given the intensity of the fires.
"There is always a limit beyond which it is simply not possible for anybody to protect property from a sufficiently intense fire," he told AAP.
"Obviously it's an awful Christmas for those people who've been directly affected by the fires, a reminder that the Australian environment can be very unforgiving indeed."
He praised firefighters and said they had made the ultimate sacrifice by missing Christmas with their families and risking their lives to protect others.
Some rail lines out of Sydney have been closed and residents have been advised to stay inside their homes and ensure a plentiful supply of water.
The Rural Fire Service said it was often safer for people to stay in their homes rather than evacuate because the fires were so unpredictable.
"It's been hectic and fairly devastating. It's not a good feeling to lose houses," RFS spokesman Cameron Wade said.
©AAP 2001
======================================================================
20:03 AEDST Tue 25 Dec 2001
Five die in soaring Qld temperatures
A heatwave across Queensland had contributed to the deaths of five people, the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) said.
A QAS spokesman said the five elderly people had died in the Brisbane area from heat-induced heart attacks.
Warnings have been issued for people to take extra precautions against the heat, including drinking plenty of water and staying out of the sun.
Temperatures in major centres in central, western and northern Queensland are predicted to hit the low 40s, with the southeast baking in the high-30s.
However, showers and thunderstorms are predicted for most parts of the state on Wednesday and Thursday.
©AAP 2001
Cheers,
Ozzie
"It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
Anonymous
