- Sydney is surrounded by a ring of fire today, as more
than 100 fires continue burning across New South Wales.
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- The NSW Government has declared parts of Sydney's west,
southern Sydney, the central coast, Illawarra, the north coast, central
west and the Hunter as natural disaster areas.
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- Fire officers are battlin g a 700-kilometre fire front,
concentrating their efforts on blazes burning in a 10-kilometre stretch
from Campbelltown in Sydney's south-west through to the Royal National
Park, in Sydney's south.
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- Firefighters are battling a blaze that has just crossed
the Princes Highway between Heathcote and Waterfall into the Royal National
Park.
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- People in the township of Waterfall and in camping grounds
in the park were evacuated last night.
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- Emergency services are now worried about West Heathcote
as gusts of south-westerly winds fan fingers of the fire towards homes.
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- Twenty tankers, along with 200 firefighters from Victoria
have just arrived to help in the battle to save properties and establish
containment lines.
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- More than 100 welfare workers have spent the night at
the Wollongong Entertainment Centre, helping evacuees who were forced to
leave their homes late yesterday afternoon.
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- Around 1,100 people were evacuated from their homes in
the Helensburgh, Otford and Waterfall areas as fires advanced.
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- Mike Archer, from emergency headquarters in Wollongong,
says buses are transporting many evacuees to the Campbelltown area this
morning.
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- Relatives wanting information about evacuees shoould
call 1 800 069 303.
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- Wind change
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- Firefighters fear a wind change could see the flank of
the blazes become the fire fronts.
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- Around 4,000 firefighters are currently on the ground.
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- Authorities estimate that more than 80 properties have
been destroyed in the greater Sydney area.
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- Fourteen homes have been destroyed in the Hawkesbury
area, north of Sydney, and 20 properties have been ruined at Jervis Bay.
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- John Winter, from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service,
says the fires are considered the worst since 1994, when four lives were
lost and 185 homes destroyed around Sydney.
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- "These are certainly beginning to be on par with
'94," he said. "The key difference is so far we haven't had any
loss of life.
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- "Given the sheer intensity of the fires, that's
absolutely extraordinary."
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- Arson
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- New South Wales fire authorities believe arsonists are
behind most of the bushfires causing havoc around Sydney and on the state's
south coast.
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- Bushfire Commissioner Phil Koperburg is disgusted that
apart from a lightning strike south-west of Sydney, most of the bushfires
have been deliberately lit.
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- "We live in a part of the world where fires are
much a part of life as summer time," Mr Koperburg said.
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- "It's bad enough when you have to contend with accidental
fires, fires which are a result of lightning, as indeed at least one major
fire was yesterday.
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- "Then to have the majority of fires lit by people
for whom I can find no description, threatening the lives of literally
hundreds of people and destroying the possessions of hundreds more, is
a sad reflection on those sorts of people."
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- Relief fund
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- The Acting NSW Premier, Andrew Refshauge, says the Government
has donated an opening $1 million to a Christmas 2001 Bush Fire Relief
Appeal.
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- The fund is designed to help people who have unforeseen
expenses not covered by insurance.
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- People willing to pledge a donation to the fund can call
the Disaster Relief Centre on 9683 2388 to give their details.
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- Dr Refshauge will travel with Prime Minister John Howard
to visit Warragamba and Silverdale in Sydney's west, which are among the
worst-affected areas.
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- The South Australian Government is offering to provide
hundreds of firefighters to help battle the blazes.
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- The offer involves 300 Country Fire Service volunteers,
as well as more than 40 Metropolitan Fire Service firefighters and 25 CFS
appliances.
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- The Tasmania Fire Service says it is also ready to help
out.
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- http://www.abc.net.au
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- © 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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- This service may include material from Agence France-Presse
(AFP), AAP(International), APTN, Reuters, CNN and the BBC World Service
which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
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