AUSTRALIA: Fire crews battling the New South Wales bush fires were yesterday given some respite when temperatures in the state unexpectedly fell, halting the spread of the estimated 100 fires.
But with strong winds and near 40 degree temperatures expected today the two-week- old bush fire crisis looks set to run for at least a third week.
While most fire fronts were calm yesterday there were some areas where flames continued to threaten properties, namely on the south coast of NSW and Blue Mountains region north west of Sydney. Flames also jumped containment lines at the northern Sydney suburbs of Pennant Hills and West Pymble sparking frantic efforts to save properties there for the third time in less than a week with no reported cases of any houses having been lost there yesterday.
The cooler temperatures gave fire crews the opportunity to carry out valuable backburning - the use of controlled fires to reduce the undergrowth that fuels bushfires - around the State ahead of the expected windy and hot conditions today.
Mr John Winter from the Rural Fire Service said back burning had been the priority for all day yesterday.
"The reason for that is obviously to take out the centre area which would be unburnt country, which would present a real possibility of re-ignition," Mr Winter said.
Around 180 homes have been destroyed over the last 14 days. The total cost to date of fighting the flames has been put at $70 million while damage to land and property has been put at around $80 million.
More than 80 aircraft have been deployed to fight the fires, including the US Air-Crane helitanker, Elvis, which has a capacity of 9,000 litres.
Two more helitankers are currently en route from the US and will be in the NSW skies by tomorrow.
Of the 100 fires that have raged since Christmas Eve around 40 are believed to have been the work of arsonists with 21 suspects having already been interviewed by NSW police.
The 15,000 firefighers and other public workers who have fought the fires since Christmas Eve may be honoured with a ticker-tape parade under a proposal being considered by Sydney's Lord Mayor Mr Frank Sartor.
Meanwhile, Australian authorities have been accused of failing to prevent the bush fires, which have destroyed a million hectares of bush land.
A leading government scientist, Mr Phil Cheney, who has spent 40 years researching fires, said fire prevention measures by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), which manages the millions of hectares of Australian bush land, have been hampered by the political furore raised by environmentalists.
But Mr Cheney said the restrictions on backburning had given firefighters little hope of containing the blazes.
"In my opinion the NPWS does not do enough," said Mr Cheney.
"They have to balance the needs of property protection with protecting the ecology and that is difficult when there is a big song and dance from the public about burn-offs."
