"Fire bugs should be locked up for life imo." - Here Here, timbo! - Pie _______________________________________________________________
Source: www.smh.com.au/news
Fires deliberately lit February 7, 2009 - 1:50PM Latest related coverage
Arson is suspected as the cause of three bushfires in NSW Hunter region that are consuming terrain at an alarming rate.
Fire investigators are on scene at Woolemi National Park in the Singleton area to determine the cause of the fires.
More than 1000ha of countryside have burned since Friday night as the fires joined as one and are moving rapidly under hot and windy summer conditions.
Temperatures will climb above 40 degrees across NSW and in Sydney's west on Saturday and Sunday until a southerly change arrives late on Sunday evening to cool things down.
The fire is burning out of control approximately 25km northwest of Putty and 44km south of Denman.
No property has come under threat but the fire is producing large amounts of smoke, prompting the Rural Fire Service (RFS) to warn nearby residents.
"It's moving very quickly and it's putting up a lot of smoke,'' RFS spokeswoman Rebel Talbert told AAP.
At least 40 firefighters are battling the blaze with the assistance of two water-bombing aircraft.
Residents are recommended to take precautions and take care while driving in the area.
Ms Talbert said the three fires started on Friday evening and investigators suspect they were deliberately lit.
"The fire has been declared a Section 44 emergency and they are on scene to determine the cause,'' she said.
At least 35 bushfires across NSW are burning out of control or have been contained and are being monitored.
Fire crews are keeping a eye on three fires in the Tumut area, about 90km west of Canberra, which have torched a total 500ha of bushland but have been contained.
A fire which destroyed more than 1100ha near Wyndham, in the southeast corner of NSW, is still burning out of control.
More than 60 firefighters are battling a blaze in Wybong, northwest of Newcastle, that has already burned about 140ha, threatened homes at one point and destroyed a car.
Smoke from a fire that has destroyed more than 180ha near Lake Macquarie, on the NSW Central Coast, has drifted into Sydney.
The fire started near Catherine Hill Bay on Friday afternoon and is expected to double in size before firefighters contain the blaze.
Police also believe a fire that destroyed between five and ten hectares of bushland in Sydney's Lane Cove National Park was deliberately lit.
Firefighters, with assistance from a water-bombing helicopter, brought the Friday evening blaze under control in about two hours before any homes were threatened.
"Police are investigating a suspiciously-lit bushfire at Lane Cove in Sydney's north-west yesterday,'' a NSW police statement said.
"Fire investigation officers believe the blaze was deliberately lit from a bush track at the end of Melrose Place.''
Health authorities have warned Sydney residents to take precautions as temperatures soar over the weekend into the mid-30s in Sydney and as high as the mid-40's in the city's west and across the state.
Children, the elderly and people with respiratory illness are especially vulnerable. They must keep cool and drink plenty of water, the RFS said.
A total fire ban is in place for the Sydney area and most of NSW except for the northeast area of the state.
Firefighter safety is an ongoing concern as they battle a number of fires in the heatwave conditions.
"A lot of those fires are burning in really inaccessible terrain and some of them have burning for about two weeks or more," Ms Talbert said.
