By KATHERINE HOBY
Strong winds and soaring temperatures pushed Sydney's bushfires into a suburb just 10 minutes from the city centre yesterday.
Residents and firefighters fought flames with water pumped from backyard swimming pools late into the night, while helicopters continued to pour water on the area.
Police have arrested 21 people suspected of lighting fires deliberately.
The front of flames that yesterday threatened homes in the leafy northern suburb of West Pymble was also thought to have been started by arsonists.
State officials have vowed to impose the full sentence of 14 years' jail on those convicted of arson.
"Today it's about as bad a picture as you can conjure up," said the New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner, Phil Koperberg.
"We have somewhere in the order of 2000km of fire perimeter to deal with on a day that is not conducive to doing anything but hopping in the swimming pool somewhere ...
"The firefighters are feeling the strain."
Summer temperatures of up to 35 degrees and winds gusting up to 70 km/h fanned the blaze on several fronts in West Pymble, 10 minutes drive from the central business district.
From today two more helicopters will be helping to battle the fires.
They will be piloted by four New Zealanders who flew the large choppers across the Tasman this week.
Pilots from Palmerston North-based company Helipro flew the Iroquois and BK117, with an engineer and one ground support staff member, to Sydney.
They reached Bankstown aerodrome yesterday.
Pilot Regan Graham said the amount of smoke they encountered on their journey gave an indication of the extent of the problem.
"There are just so many fires," he said. "In New Zealand, you get fires that are as big, but you get only one. Here, there are so many it's unbelievable."
Mr Graham said the two helicopters had to take a coastal route to get to Bankstown.
"We had to track along the coastline to the Sydney Harbour Bridge because the smoke was so bad," he said.
"Seeing it first-hand just brought it all home to us. It will be different from New Zealand firefighting. The scale is so much larger."
He was amazed at the amount of smoke across the city.
"You just couldn't see the city at all. It must be the pits living here."
Mr Graham said the team could be in Australia from one to six weeks. Helipro has been contracted by Australian company Heli-Aust and will eventually be paid by the Australian Government.
Mr Graham and his team were expected to start work with monsoon buckets today, joining 60 other aircraft already fighting the flames.
Meanwhile, John Rassmussen, manager of the Palmerston North Rural Fire Service, will today be joined by 10 other New Zealanders arriving to help with logistics.
The team includes regional and city council staff as well as rural firefighters.
The "Black Christmas" fires, as they have become known, are the most intense Australia has suffered since 1994, when four people were killed.
Dozens of firefighters have been treated for smoke inhalation and one has a burnt nose.
At least 150 homes have been destroyed, national parks and farms devastated, and thousands of sheep killed.
About 300,000ha of bush - twice the size of Greater London - have been destroyed.
There have been no reports of deaths, but on Tuesday a 51-year-old woman was taken to hospital with serious head and spinal injuries after she fell from her roof while defending her home from the flames.
Other large fires causing concern yesterday were around Kurrajong in the Blue Mountains, 60km west of Sydney, and near the holiday township of Sussex Inlet, about 190km to the south of the city.
About 10,000 weary firefighters are fighting the blazes.
"This is now the 10th day of this campaign and ... some crews are beginning to become weary," said fire official John Winter.
"We need to ensure we manage that issue of firefighter fatigue."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard toured some of the affected areas around Sydney yesterday and offered encouragement to firefighters and residents.
"Keep our fingers crossed and pray for rain," he said.
Australia's most deadly bushfires occurred on "Ash Wednesday" - February 16, 1983 - when 76 people died in fires which swept across the southern states of Victoria and South Australia.
Australian insurers said the cost of this year's summer bushfires was about $A50 million so far.
Ring of flame licks closer to Sydney centre
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.