-Caveat Lector- >From The Age (AU)
}}}>Begin Fire traps 2000 on beach By CLAIRE O'ROURKE and LINDA SILMALIS Friday 4 January 2002 About 2000 people were trapped on beaches along the New South Wales south coast again last night as bushfires raced towards the north, leaving at least 20 properties gutted and up to five towns devastated. Residents of Bendalong and Berringer Lake, about 250 kilometres south of Sydney, left their homes in the hands of about 400 firefighters as the blaze that destroyed homes and businesses at Sussex Inlet on Wednesday night raged out of control. "There's only one road out to the highway and that's ringed with fire. They can't get out," Shoalhaven Rural Fire Service spokeswoman June Webster said last night. And in the heart of the Blue Mountains, up to 1200 firefighters converged on the southern side of the Great Western Highway in the towns of Faulconbridge, Linden, Woodford and Hazelbrook as a massive fire broke through co ntainment lines yesterday morning. Residents and firefighters have been preparing for the feared onslaught for a week. However, it appeared not even the giant water-bombing helitanker Elvis could stop the blaze reaching homes last night. Earlier, Elvis had saved the lives of one fire crew caught in the Ingar swamp area near the Blue Mountains towns by repeatedly dropping water bombs on the flames. As the cost of the fires, which have ravaged areas to the north, west and south of Sydney since Christmas Eve, nears $70 million, the NSW Government yesterday announced it would hire two more Erickson Air-Crane Helitanker s from the United States in the hope of bringing the crisis under control. NSW Emergency Services Minister Bob Debus said he hoped the two extra tankers would arrive within three days. The $15 million helitanker has a capacity to dump 9000 litres of water in one go and has been credited with saving hundreds of homes in the past 11 days. "We are persuaded by its performance in recent days that it would be a more than reasonable thing to bring some more of these aircraft," Mr Debus said. "I gather that the Commonwealth will be assisting us in the purchase and maintenance of them into the future." Prime Minister John Howard said the Commonwealth remained ready to help but would await advice from NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperberg before making a commitment. "Anything that can be done will be done," Mr Howard said. Earlier, Mr Debus was forced to declare that the Sussex Inlet blaze, which resulted in almost 7000 evacuations on Wednesday night, was not caused by backburning. A Rural Fire Service spokesman, Mark Sullivan, told Sydney radio 2UE yesterday that backburning in the area had got out of control and caused the blaze that destroyed 20 properties. Mr Debus joined Mr Koperberg in denying Mr Sullivan's comments and defending the backburning operation. Last night 260 Victorian firefighters left for home. They were being replaced by a contingent from Queensland. More than 80 blazes continued to burn out of control yesterday despite milder weather conditions. Mr Koperberg said despite cooler temperatures, there was still no sight of much-needed rain. "This campaign will just roll on until we have six or seven days of good humidity, low winds or no winds and mild temperatures," he said. NSW would need up to 40 millimetres of rain to allow crews to get on top of the blazes. - with AAP This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/ 2002/01/04/FFX32O0FZVC.html End<{{{ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. 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