The tally of houses lost to forest
fires passed 200 on Sunday as brigades in south-
eastern Australia battled blazes threatening
dozens of homes.
Residents were warned of torrid fire conditions
to come.
Lower temperatures and calmer winds provided
relief for worn out firefighters, bolstered by
fresh crews who drove overnight to reach the
Blue Mountains hot spot, 70km west of Sydney.
But with winds expected to pick up and scorching
temperatures on their way, the Rural Fire
Service (RFS) warned of more death and
destruction.
One person has died and, at the last count, 208
houses have been lost since the crisis erupted
on Thursday.
"Crews have been back-burning overnight to
strengthen containment lines and are on alert to
switch to active firefighting if properties come
under threat," RFS spokesperson Russell Taylor
said. "We'll be deploying even more today."
Fire ban
A total ban on lighting fires outside was
declared by the New South Wales state
government.
"I'm increasingly concerned about the potential
for significant fire runs and consequential
damage if the weather conditions materialise
like they're indicating they could over this
week," state Premier Barry O'Farrell said.
RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warned of
"some pretty deteriorating, awful, conditions
over the coming days."
A mostly volunteer force of 1 500 backed by
water-bombing aircraft is helping Blue
Mountains residents defend their homes from
fires that have burned more than 100 000
hectares.
The dozens of blazes have a combined perimeter
of over 400 kilometres.
Matt Stephens, who lives in the Blue Mountains
hamlet of Sun Valley, told local news agency AAP
that he would stay and defend his home for as
long as he could, and then dash for safety.
"We've about 50 metres of lawn at the back of
the house and the front basically goes straight
on to the road so I'm hopeful," Stephens said.
"We've got all the stuff by the door ready to
go."
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN