Wildfires break out north of Sydney, destroying homes
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-01 16:20

A wall of flames leapt 30 meters (100 feet) out of parched eucalyptus forests and destroyed at least four homes as several fires raged out of control north of Sydney on Sunday.

A number of residents were forced to flee their houses _ some of them taking to the water in boats _ as hundreds of firefighters battled the flames and authorities closed the main freeway heading north from Sydney as flames lapped at its edges and a huge pall of gray smoke drifted across the region.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

At least three homes were destroyed near Woy Woy, about 60 kilometers (38 miles) north of Sydney, New South Wales state Rural Fire Service spokesman Cameron Wade said. Another house went up in flames at nearby Phegan's Bay.

"It has been a very fast-moving fire, it has been actually a number of fires that have joined up together and is now burning down toward the Umina area," Wade told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio, adding that the flames already had destroyed seven firefighters' vehicles.

A woman walks along a wharf in the northern Sydney suburb of Palm Beach as smoke from a fire on the Central Coast can be seen in the sky behind January 1, 2006. [Reuters]

"We are expecting more homes to be impacted," rural fire service spokeswoman Rebel Talbert told Nine News.

She said that because of the lack of lightning strikes, "unfortunately, it looks as though we have had human intervention, but whether ... that's deliberate or accidental really remains to be seen."

Hundreds of firefighters and several helicopters were dumping water on homes around the towns of Gosford and Woy Woy, according to reports from the area. Umina is a small coastal village nearby.

The fires were being fanned by hot dry winds from the Outback as the region recorded temperatures of up to 44 degrees Celsius (111 F) _ the hottest New Year's Day on record for Sydney.

Volunteer firefighter Michael Wood said about 50 homes were in the path of a fire at Woy Woy and people were evacuating their homes.

Fires were alight across New South Wales state, but those north of Sydney appeared the most threatening.

A cool change in the weather from the south was expected to bring relief for firefighters, but not until late Sunday night, and as the cooler front passed, it was expected to bring stronger winds and make conditions worse.

A rural bush fire fighter tries to extinguish a fire that was headed towards homes in the northern Sydney suburb of Belrose January 1, 2006.[Reuters]

"The southerly is going to cause us a lot of problems in the next few hours ... we are expecting some very erratic weather conditions and it is actually going to make the firefighters' job even harder," Talbert told Nine News.

In neighboring Victoria state, more than hundreds of firefighters controlled a blaze that destroyed five homes on Saturday night at Stawell, a town of 8,000 people 240 kilometers (150 miles) west of Victoria state capital Melbourne.

The blazes north of Sydney came despite the New South Wales state Rural Fire Service declaring states of emergency across much of the state including large parts of Sydney, in a move aimed at mobilizing firefighters ahead of possible flare-ups.

"By declaring pre-emptive bushfire emergencies, all local areas will be in the highest state of readiness and will be able to deploy firefighters, tankers and aircraft immediately," said the service's chief, Phil Koperberg.

Walking tracks in many national parks were closed and farmers in western New South Wales were asked not to harvest crops throughout the day for fear their machinery could cause sparks and set off a fire.

Michael Creighton at Woy Woy Leagues Club, which was acting as a makeshift evacuation center, said several families were sheltering at the club amid uncertainty about the fate of their homes.

"I don't think today anybody knows whose house has gone," he told Sky News.