By GREG ANSLEY
CANBERRA - Fatigue yesterday emerged as a new threat as exhausted firefighters spent their 13th gruelling day holding back more than 80 fires ringing Sydney and burning through tens of thousands of hectares of rural New South Wales.
Lighter winds and higher humidity gave some respite over the
weekend, allowing bulldozers and backburning to strengthen defences around fires in the Blue Mountains, at Hawkesbury to the north of Sydney and at Shoalhaven on the South Coast.
Other fires were contained near Oberon, to the west of Sydney, at Cessnock, west of Newcastle, near Grafton and Kempsey in the state's north and at Armidale and Narrabri in the northwest.
Late yesterday, storms were expected to move down from the north, dropping rain on some of the coastal fires and on parts of Sydney's ring of fire.
But the Bureau of Meteorology said that although some of the falls could be heavy they would be local and have limited impact on the fires.
They could even hamper fire crews by slowing backburning or sparking new outbreaks with lightning - and hot westerlies are again forecast for today in a return to the pattern that has plagued firefighters since Christmas.
No one has been killed or badly injured so far but some fear the unremitting pressure on the 15,000 firefighters from across Australia and New Zealand could lead to accidents.
Apart from the thousands of crews facing the flames, scores of trucks, tankers and other vehicles are constantly on the move in dangerous and constantly shifting conditions; and yesterday 88 aircraft were combating the fires.
Rural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperberg said fatigue could take its toll. Yesterday two Victorian firemen were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning, and other firefighters have suffered cuts, burns, and at least one snakebite.
"What we have to guard against is fatigue leading to something more serious," said Koperberg.
"So far we've been blessed by a very small number of accidents and very minor injuries, but we're seeing some escalation of that, which is natural in people becoming more fatigued.
"We are looking at that more critically."
Today, the main threats will continue to lie in the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury and Shoalhaven. The small town of Oakdale, near Picton in the Southern Highlands west of Sydney, is again at risk if the wind changes, and a fire continues to consume vast tracks of the Deua National Park, on the coast southeast of Canberra.
* NSW Premier Bob Carr announced new moves against juveniles convicted of arson.
They would include meetings with bushfire victims, visits to hospital burns units and clean-up work after fires.
At the weekend a 16-year-old girl was charged after allegedly trying to light a fire in Sydney's west, bringing to 25 the number of alleged arsonists caught since Christmas - 16 of them juveniles.
By GREG ANSLEY
CANBERRA - Fatigue yesterday emerged as a new threat as exhausted firefighters spent their 13th gruelling day holding back more than 80 fires ringing Sydney and burning through tens of thousands of hectares of rural New South Wales.
Lighter winds and higher humidity gave some respite over the
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