ONE of the biggest mobilisations of firefighters in the nation's history has saved NSW from crisis, with the state's bushfire chief declaring last night that disaster had been narrowly averted through the tireless efforts of an army of volunteers.The Defence Department admitted late yesterday that it was responsible for a 47,000ha conflagration stretching from Lithgow to Bilpin, the biggest of the blazes threatening the Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands and Hunter regions of NSW.
The fire, sparked by explosives training on military land last Wednesday, has threatened towns along the Bells Line of Road for days and will challenge firefighters for weeks to come.
GRAPHIC: NSW fires
But by last night, the vast natural disaster response involving firefighters from three states appeared to have staved off catastrophe through audacious and tireless backburning strategies.
For days, fire chiefs had warned that hot, dry winds forecast for yesterday could rekindle last week's firestorm, which destroyed nearly 200 houses, most of them around the Blue Mountains town of Springwood.
By late afternoon, hundreds of residents were told they could prepare to return to Blue Mountains homes fled earlier in the day, and a second day of blanket school closures in the mountains and surrounding districts was abandoned.
'We've seen the threat to the Blue Mountains averted,' Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said, adding that arduous work remained in coming days to keep the rolling threat contained but that the worst was over. 'It would be safe to head back home tonight because the risk has been averted.'
Some schools will stay closed today but only on an as-needed basis. For days, there had been fears of an out-of-control Blue Mountains conflagration yesterday as westerly and northwesterly winds picked up.
Instead, the threat materialised hundreds of kilometres away, around Lake Macquarie and Newcastle, forcing fire authorities to declare emergencies there and divert valuable resources.
A fire around the town of Minmi, west of Newcastle, burnt out of control throughout the day and the local primary school had to be evacuated. Another, around the Lake Macquarie suburbs of Redhead and Dudley, provided a further headache in the afternoon.
The M1 motorway between Newcastle and Sydney was closed as a result. A southwesterly wind change today could bring slightly cooler conditions but is not expected to produce any rain, meaning the affected regions will remain on high alert.
'It has the very real potential to present new challenges and particularly in the northern end of the Winmalee Springwood fire where you could see . . . that fire could pose threats tomorrow to communities in the Yarramundi Valley area and communities up through Grose Valley and communities to the northeast,' Mr Fitzsimmons said.
Up to 200 fire tankers crewed by 800 officers, including 10 engines and crews from Queensland and another 10 from Victoria, were deployed for the unprecedented effort. The interstate crews joined firefighters from across NSW for a mobilisation that Fire and Rescue NSW commissioner Greg Mullins said was one of the biggest ever. Previous such major deployments were during the 1994 bushfire emergency and the 1997 Sydney hailstorm, Mr Mullins said.
It was a day that began with dread and ended with relief and a striking sense that community spirit had held nature at bay.
The hot, dry, strong winds that had been expected for several days materialised on cue around mid-morning, prompting large-scale evacuations of mountainside towns and requiring several hours of tense firefighting work on the ground and in the air.
For a while, the gusts were so severe that aerial water-dumping activities had to be suspended. 'We have seen today, and indeed building throughout the week, one of the most significant threats to the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury communities that is unparalleled,' Mr Fitzsimmons said. 'Never before have we seen the extent of damage and destruction and wide-scale fire activity at this time of the year.'
As the day wore on, firefighters were gaining the upper hand but people who had sought refuge at clubs and community centres outside the Blue Mountains emergency zones endured an anxious wait, with news coming in of the new Lake Macquarie and Newcastle fire grounds.
'There are still fires flaring up, running and impacting on communities this afternoon,' Mr Fitzsimmons said at one of his regular briefings.
'There is every prospect we are going to see some more.'
However, Premier Barry O'Farrell was eventually able to laud the 'magnificent planning and preparation' that helped avert the worst on a day Mr Fitzsimmons previously said would be 'as bad as it gets'.
Mr O'Farrell earlier lashed out at reports a Blue Mountains landlord had attempted to inflate rents as victims of last week's fires sought new accommodation, saying it was an act of 'bastardry' that would attract prosecution.
As the light fell and exhausted fire crews sought rest, Mr Fitzsimmons was careful not to sound too upbeat, warning that continued vigilance was crucial.
'We need to remind ourselves that we've still got a long way to go as we look down the coming months into summer and the period of the bushfire danger for NSW,' the fire chief said.
Posted by Unknown on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - Rating: 4.5
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