-
Source: ONE News -
Related
Cooler weather overnight has brought some relief to firefighters battling a blaze near Bathurst, with crews trying to establish containment lines before conditions worsen later on Wednesday.
The bushfire, which flared in the central-west community of Vittoria on Tuesday afternoon, has burnt out 1265 hectares, forcing some landowners to evacuate their properties. A number were forced to shelter at the Police and Citizens Youth Club in Bathurst.
Rural Fire Services (RFS) spokesman Ben Shepherd said conditions had eased significantly overnight, with temperatures lower and the troubling westerly winds abating.
But he warned that with temperatures in the low 30s forecast for the central west, and winds up to 30km/h predicted, firefighters still had a lot of work ahead of them.
"We did see a reduction of fire behaviour overnight, and we were able to start identifying some containment lines last night," Shepherd told AAP.
"But there is a lot of fire on the ground, there is still a lot of work to do, and again that area will be under a total fire ban today, with severe conditions expected.
"It's not as bad as yesterday, but not great for fighting.
"It's just very dry out there, which doesn't help us at all."
Two farmers were seriously burnt while defending their property against the Vittoria fire on Tuesday.
The men, aged 50 and 20, were taken to Orange Base Hospital for treatment before being transferred to Concord Hospital in Sydney.
The RFS said about 100 fires were alight across the state on Wednesday morning, with a total fire ban declared in the central ranges, northern slopes, northwestern and upper central west plains.
On Wednesday, hot, dry and windy conditions are expected to raise bushfire alert levels across parts of NSW, the Bureau of Meteorology warned.
Although no catastrophic warnings are in place - unlike Tuesday - an extreme fire alert has been issued for the northwest of the state.
"It's going to be a cooler day, but the mere fact that we don't have catastrophic doesn't mean that there is not danger still out there," Mr Shepherd said.
"Severe fire weather is still very dangerous and the next few days we'll continue to see areas under total fire ban."
A fire burning northeast of Cootamundra was contained overnight, after threatening properties at Harden on Tuesday.
The fast-moving fire has burnt out 6900 hectares since Saturday.
"Conditions have eased considerably with light rain falling on the fire ground and winds easing," the RFS website said.
"Fire crews will use this opportunity to aggressively attack the fire and mop up.
"The townships of Wallendbeen, Murrumbah and Harden may experience some smoke impact, but (are) not under direct threat at this stage."
At Cudgen, on the far north coast, a bushfire continues to threaten some rural properties.
Firefighters were working to establish containment lines, and were focusing their efforts on property protection.
"We've still got a lot of work to do on that over the coming day," Shepherd said.
"There are still some rural properties in there that we're going to have to work around while we conduct some backburning operations."
World News Video
-
Dangerous rush to Everest summit (1:59)
-
Dozens killed in Syrian massacre (2:09)
-
'King of Romance' competes in Eurovision (1:46)
