Sydney, April 15 (IANS) Over 500 firefighters responded on Sunday to a massive bushfire posing a serious threat to two residential neighbourhoods in Australia’s most populated city of Sydney as the authorities declared a state of emergency.

An unspecified number of Menai and Barden Ridge residents left their homes after New South Wales authorities declared a state of emergency as almost 100 firefighting trucks and 15 aircraft continued fighting back the blaze, Efe news agency reported.

According to a Fire and Rescue NSW official Twitter account statement: “Moorebank Avenue, #Holsworthy Fire: Due to easing (wind) conditions the fire has been downgraded to Watch & Act. Large numbers of firefighters will continue to work into the night to bring the fire under control.”

Police are now investigating the possible causes of the fire, which seemed under control on Saturday night but surged again early on Sunday.

The blaze has burnt some 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) of land and the full extent of damages is yet unknown.

Recent scientific studies warned of a possible increased risk of forest fires in Australia due to extreme heat waves and higher carbon dioxide emissions.

Forest fire seasons vary a lot in Australia depending on the region and meteorological conditions.

In the case of New South Wales and its capital Sydney, the bushfire season happens during the Austral spring and summer.

Australia’s worst fire incident in decades occurred in February 2009 in Victoria (Southeast) that devastated an area of 4,500 sq km and left 173 dead and 414 injured. </s> A major fire is raging for the second day in the state of New South Wales. According to reports, bushfires are coming close to the southwestern suburbs of Australia's largest city Sydney.

READ MORE: WATCH Children Escaping Deadly Fire in Dance Studio in New Jersey

A train driving through Sydney's bushfire was caught on camera. Later, Australian Transport Minister Andrew Constance demanded that safety investigators conduct a review of the train that operated very close to the bushfire.

Sydney #Holsworthy Fire smoke as seen by today by Himawari-8 satellite, grabbed from RAMMB slider #nswfires its the left to right plume, the diagonal moving stuff is high cloud off the ranges I think, the different movement is due to different winds higher up. pic.twitter.com/53UPyDbKSc — YouStorm (@YouStormorg) 15 апреля 2018 г.​

Australia: An emergency warning was reissued for an out-of-control bushfire that is raging across parts of the Australian city of Sydney. According to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, 500 firefighters are trying to control the blaze that started on Saturday. 15-04-2018 pic.twitter.com/XYXhMMtjzn — Rowan Van Dijk (@Lastkombo) 15 апреля 2018 г.​

Residents in Holsworthy, Voyager Point, Pleasure Point and Sandy Point should seek shelter from the heat of the fire as "it is too late to leave", the #NSWRFS advises. #NSWFIRES #9News pic.twitter.com/8aYPV7nlwZ — Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) 15 апреля 2018 г. </s> A Sydney bushfire was still out of control on Monday despite a downgraded threat level, Australia's New South Wales Rural Fire Service said.

The fire has burnt more than 2,430 hectares since Saturday afternoon and is being treated as suspicious. </s> Shane Fitzsimmons of the Rural Fire Service says evidence suggests fire that destroyed more than 2,500 hectares was deliberately lit

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The New South Wales rural fire chief has described the suspected deliberate starting of the Holsworthy fire as “sickening and reprehensible”, while urging residents in south-western suburbs of Sydney to remain vigilant despite easing conditions.

Police have set up a strike force to investigate the bushfire that tore through vast areas of bushland and threatened homes on the weekend.

The strong winds that fanned the fire on Sunday eased on Monday, allowing authorities to downgrade the alert level to “advice” and tell residents it was safe to return home.

Wind gusts had reached up to 70km/h on Sunday, and dry conditions combined with “unprecedented” early autumn temperatures to create a high-risk environment.

Firefighters worked through the night, conducting tactical back-burning, particularly around the fire’s northern and south-western fronts, and patrolling streets for flare-ups and floating embers. Resources were scaled down significantly from about 500 firefighters on Sunday to about 250 on Monday.

The fire was still not contained on Monday morning, and authorities were urging residents to remain vigilant, particularly with winds forecast to pick up again on Monday afternoon.

The Rural Fire Service assistant commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, said evidence suggested the fire was deliberately lit.

Firefighters tackle bushfire in Sydney's south-west – pictures Read more

“It is sickening and reprehensible,” Fitzsimmons said. “How dare anyone in society think that they can deliberately light a fire, endangering first and foremost all of these men and women, the vast majority of whom are volunteers, putting their lives on the line to bring these fires under control.”

The fire is thought to have started near Leacocks reserve in Casula, and had spread over 2,500 hectares by late Sunday.

NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) Easing Conditions have seen the Morebank Ave Fire downgraded to Advice. Residents in fire effected areas should continue to be vigilant and monitor conditions #NSWRFS pic.twitter.com/u55gUH6SXq

Detectives believe several spot fires began in the Leacock Reserve area on Friday night, and have looked at CCTV footage in the area.

The bushfire flared up about 2.30pm the next day in the same location.

“The area where we believe the fire commenced has been forensically examined,” Acting Superintendent Paul Albury told reporters on Monday.

“We have taken a number of statements from people who called the police and fire services in regards to the fire.”

Conditions were particularly dry, and there had been very little rain, Fitzsimmons said. The dry spell had combined with what Fitzsimmons said were “unprecedented” autumn temperatures.



“We do see fires all throughout the year, but we don’t see them to the sort of magnitude we have seen in the last couple of days here in south-west Sydney,” Fitzsimmons said.

There were initial fears about the scale of damage to property, particularly to homes in west Menai and Barden Ridge.

But Fitzsimmons said no homes had been lost and the damage had been relatively minor. There were reports of damage to fences, a cubbyhouse and gardens, he said.

The result was described as “extraordinary”.



Residents of Voyager Point, Pleasure Point, Sandy Point, Illawong, Menai and Bangor had been warned of the danger of ember attacks as many scrambled with hoses and buckets to protect their houses.



NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) Moorebank Avenue, #Holsworthy Fire: Latest Linescan taken at about 4:10pm showing current fire activity. Brighter areas are more intense fire. #NSWRFS #nswfires pic.twitter.com/R0CbCdHymG

By 5pm on Sunday, some Menai residents were starting to relax.

Daniel Borg, who lives on Hall Drive in Menai alongside bushland, admitted it was concerning to see how close the flames came. “It was pretty scary,” he said when finally opening a beer, thankful his house came with sprinklers on the roof.

Firefighters took advantage of the conditions to do a back burn along Heathcote Road near Pleasure Point as well as in areas of the Holsworthy military base.



Fitzsimmons said the fire was not thought to have started on defence land.

On Monday the fire was continuing to burn in a south-easterly direction towards Barden Ridge.

The NSW government has also indicated it will investigate why trains were allowed to continue running past the fire ground while it was active. </s> Hundreds of Australian firefighters are tackling a large bushfire that has reportedly affected homes homes in the southern suburbs of Sydney.

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) said it was concerned that flying embers could spark new blazes ahead of the advancing fire front.

Some residents have been instructed to seek shelter as evacuation is now too dangerous.

Recent weather in south-eastern Australia has been unseasonably hot.

Shane Fitzsimmons from the RFS said the fire was behaving "very aggressively".
• How Australia's extreme heat might be here to stay
• The deadly threat of hot weather and bushfires

Strong winds have been pushing the flames north and east towards suburban areas.

Passengers on a suburban train have filmed dramatic scenes as the railway took them through the burning countryside, surrounded by thick smoke and flying embers.

The fire has burned nearly 2,500 hectares of land, the RFS said.

More than 70 fire appliances were stationed along roads dividing bushland from homes while helicopters were dumping water on the fire from above, SBS reported.

"It is unseasonably hot and that's a matter of obviously great concern, but we have to deal with the worst that Mother Nature can throw at us and the worse Australians are presented with by nature, the better it brings out the Australian spirit," he said.

New South Wales police have declared the area a crime scene but the RFS says it is too early to know if the fire was started deliberately, SBS reported. </s> Motorists drive through smoke caused by bushfires on the M5 in Sydney, Australia April 16, 2018. — Reuters pic SYDNEY, April 16 — Hundreds of firefighters were today battling a large bushfire that was raging near Sydney suburbs, with authorities saying it was “miraculous” no houses had been damaged and no-one had been injured.

New South Wales state police are investigating the cause of the bushfire in south-western Sydney, which started on Saturday afternoon amid unseasonably warm autumn weather and strong winds, with suspicions it was deliberately lit.

The blaze has burnt through more than 2,430 hectares so far, with some locals evacuated from their homes.

Despite the fire's size and its proximity to several suburbs, with some locals evacuated from their homes, no properties were known to be lost, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said.

“It is absolutely miraculous that we have not lost any lives and virtually no property and this is because of the hard work and dedication and heroism of our fire services,” the state's acting Emergency Services Minister Mark Speakman told reporters today.

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the only damage reports were of fences and a children's playhouse caught in the fire's advance.

Conditions had improved today as winds eased, with firefighters working to slow the spread of the flames. They also conducted controlled burns overnight to clear land that could be combustible.

Fitzsimmons said it would be “sickening and reprehensible” if the fire was discovered to have been arson.

He added that a variety of conditions, including a dry summer, contributed to the magnitude of the blaze.

“When you add on to that the unseasonably hot couple of weeks we came into autumn and into the month of April, we were talking about temperatures well and truly in the 30s (degrees Celsius), which were unprecedented,” Fitzsimmons said. — AFP </s> An emergency warning has been issued for a huge bushfire spreading in New South Wales during an extreme heatwave.

The large blaze is burning east of Dunedoo in Central West New South Wales, the Rural Fire Service said.

"People in the area of Urabry and Turill should leave now towards Cassilis if the path is clear," the latest update reads.

The fire is burning in catastrophic conditions, and is spreading quickly, making it difficult for firefighters to contain, the Fire Service advised.

People in the area are being sent emergency alert telephone messages from the Fire Service.

Earlier today firefighters were preparing for catastrophic fire conditions across NSW as weather forecasts suggested the region was set to break even more temperature records would be broken in southern Queensland.

"These are unprecedented conditions not only in NSW but Australia, and worse than the forecast for Black Saturday in Victoria," said NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons at a briefing today.

Black Saturday was the day of the 2009 Victorian bushfires, the most devastating fires in Australian history.

As of about 1pm today over 1000 firefighters were battling 76 bushfires across NSW, 26 of which were not contained. </s> New South Wales endures severe off-the-scale' blaze amid a record-breaking heatwave that has sparked dire warnings.

Australian authorities ordered the evacuation of some rural areas of New South Wales as bushfires, fanned by extreme heat and strong winds, raged across the state.

By Sunday afternoon, emergency warnings were issued for five rural areas. People were told to evacuate if they could, or seek shelter and avoid bush or grassland where it was too late to leave.

More than 2,000 firefighters, many of them volunteers, battled 86 fires across the state, with 38 of them still largely out of control.

A heatwave saw temperatures hit record highs in some parts of the state, creating conditions that officials said were worse than those preceding Victoria's 2009 "Black Saturday" fires, Australia's worst bush fire event that killed 173 people.

"This is the worst day we have seen in the history of New South Wales when it comes to fire danger ratings and fire conditions," Shane Fitzsimmons, the state's rural fire chief, told reporters.

Fitzsimmons said there were unconfirmed reports of homes, farm sheds and machinery being destroyed by fast-moving fires breaking containment lines.

Temperatures climbed above 45 degrees Celsius in some parts. Dry and hot northwesterly winds coming from Australia's desert centre, some up to 75 kilometres an hour, were fanning the bushfires.

There were no reports of injuries, but some firefighters were suffering from heat-related issues.

A 13-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man were charged on Sunday with allegedly starting fires.

A southerly wind change associated with a cold front was forecast to arrive by early evening, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Fitzsimmons said the front would eventually offer relief, but would create volatile conditions as it met the northwesterly flow.

Since Friday, heatwave conditions have caused the cancellation of major sporting events and put pressure on the electricity grid.

A paper mill, a water treatment operations centre and Australia's largest aluminum smelter, Tomago, were among businesses forced to halt operations to conserve energy on Friday. </s> A large plume of smoke rose from a bushfire burning in Richmond Vale, New South Wales, on Wednesday, September 13.This aerial footage from New South Wales Rural Fire Service shows the scene.Authorities on Wednesday issued an emergency warning for the area, saying the blaze was out of control and spreading eastward. Firefighters and water bombing aircraft were deployed to fight the wildfire, one of over 70 burning in the state, NSW Rural Fire Service reported. Credit: New South Wales Rural Fire Service via Storyful </s> Firefighters warn that Australia’s New South Wales region faces “catastrophic” fire conditions Sunday as strong winds push hot air across a region already parched by a heat wave.

Residents are urged to avoid or leave bushfire-prone areas.

“It’s not another summer’s day. It’s not another bad fire weather day. This is as bad as it gets,” Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said Saturday during a news conference.

“It is simply not a safe environment, which is why we’re making it very clear to people that the only safe place to be is not in at-risk areas,” he said.

There are 49 fires now burning across New South Wales, including 17 that are not contained, Fitzsimmons said. About 300 firefighters are actively fighting blazes, and thousands more are on standby, he said.

“We need to be clear that in catastrophic conditions, it is the most dangerous of conditions. Fires will start early, and they will spread very quickly,” Fitzsimmons said.

He warned that the fire service does not have the resources to knock on every door to warn residents if fires spread quickly, but he said officials would do their best to save lives and homes.

The “catastrophic” fire danger conditions are forecast for the Greater Hunter, Central Ranges and North Western areas, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said. Half a dozen other areas face “extreme” and “severe” fire danger warnings for Sunday.

A “catastrophic” warning carries the risk of significant loss of life and the destruction of many homes, according to the NSW Rural Fire Service.

The Bureau of Meteorology warned in a news release Saturday that New South Wales “could experience its hottest February day on record tomorrow, as extreme heat wave conditions peak across the state.”

The temperature in one Sydney suburb, Penrith, was forecast to reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday, it said.

A total fire ban is in place across the whole state for the weekend, as authorities seek to prevent new bushfires igniting. Those could prove extremely difficult to control, given the conditions.

Part of the problem is an approaching weather front to the south that is dragging a buildup of hot air from the interior of the continent down across New South Wales, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

It comes on the heels of a sustained heat wave. January was the hottest month on record for Sydney since 1859, the bureau said, and some places in the state are breaking records for the number of consecutive days at high temperatures.

At the same time, record rainfall in New South Wales last winter led to high plant growth, providing ample fuel for bushfires to spread.

The conditions may spark fears of a repeat of “Black Saturday” in 2009, when soaring temperatures and high winds fanned the flames of a series of bushfires across the state of Victoria. Those fires left 173 people dead, injured 500 more and destroyed thousands of homes.

Some relief from the extreme heat in New South Wales is expected Monday, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
A state of emergency is declared in New South Wales, Australia, as a bushfire continues to burn out of control. More than 500 personnel from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Fire and Rescue NSW and the Australian Defence Force are tackling the bushfire, which has torn through the Holsworthy Barracks and threatens the suburbs of Sydney.