NSW: Bushfires quiet ahead of anticipated horror day

AAP General News (Australia)
12-29-2001
NSW: Bushfires quiet ahead of anticipated horror day

SYDNEY, Dec 29 AAP - Bushfires forming a ring around Sydney have become unusually quiet
ahead of tomorrow's horror forecast of scorching heat and strong winds.

NSW Premier Bob Carr touched down in Sydney this morning after cutting short his holiday
to China and will be briefed by fire chiefs later this morning on the crisis that has
gripped the state since Christmas.

A statewide fire ban has been put in place, the first time since the devastating bushfires
of 1994, in anticipation of soaring temperatures and extreme fire conditions.

Milder weather overnight and this morning has allowed fire crews to carry out extensive
backburning operations in preparation for tomorrow, when crews are expected to face the
worst conditions since the outbreaks last week.

They have put in place buffer zones around properties the Rural Fire Service considers
to be most at risk, service spokesman John Winter said.

About 100 fires continue to ravage the state.

"At this stage the fire has become almost unusually quiet," Mr Winter said.

"They're still burning but they're burning within those identified containment lines.

"We have to say that the containment lines that have been established, it's uncertain
how well they will hold once the weather deteriorates, particularly into tomorrow."

With winds not as strong as previously feared, the potential for the fires to break
their containment lines today has been limited.

"We're obviously facing high temperatures but not quite as strong winds as we thought
so that will limit the potential for fires to break their containment lines but we do
have to treat every single fire as being of maximum risk at the moment," Mr Winter told
ABC radio.

"Given the potential for spot fires to develop into significant fires very quickly,
what may seem like a benign fire can develop into a major one at enormous rate - that
means we have to take a very broadbrush view."

The areas of most concern today were west of Gosford through the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury
area and down to Wollongong.

The Rural Fire Service was also continuing to closely monitor fires around Huskisson
on the south coast which have the potential to spread to other towns.

"We don't have the ability to be complacent about any one of the nearly 100 fires that
we're dealing with," Mr Winter said.

Mr Carr has foreshadowed tough new laws for arsonists in light of nearly half the bushfires
having been deliberately lit.

"We must look carefully at law enforcement, given that many of these fires appear to
have been started by incendiarists," the premier told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"And we will continue to refine our policy on hazard reduction, while recognising that
sometimes the terrible truth is that destructive fires are inevitable in Australia's bushlands
and grasslands."

Emergency Services Minister Bob Debus urged calm ahead of tomorrow's horror forecast
and said crews were well prepared.

"Weather predictions are that today will remain relatively quiet but... temperatures
are almost certain to rise to very high levels tomorrow, there will be a change in the
wind ... later in the day of the sort that would drive the fire closer to Blue Mountains
townships," Mr Debus told ABC radio.

"And all of that means that we're going to have to be on the highest conceivable state
of alert, but we are, we are actually well planned and it's important therefore for everybody
to remain calm."

AAP sal/gl

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES NSW 2ND DAYLEAD

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.