NSW faced the most serious fire threat in 30 years, Premier Bob Carr said yesterday after a top-level briefing on the bushfire inferno.

With temperatures tipped to hit 39C in Sydney's west and winds of up to 50km/h expected to fan bushfires, today looks to be the worst in the six-day crisis.

Mr Carr urged the community to pull together: "We need a continuation of that almost wartime resolve to continue to save lives and to save houses where we can."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0112/30/national/national2.html

It's very sad. The fires started on Christmas Day (I was on the beach in Sydney and could see the cloud of smoke slowly reach the city), and the skies above NSW and the Blue Mountains have been a big gray hazy hue for the past week depending on the winds.

Sydney experienced its worst day of pollution yesterday after a strong westerly wind swept bushfire smoke from the Blue Mountains overnight, blanketing the city and grounding fire-fighting planes.

Visibility was reduced to half a kilometre and five international flights and at least five domestic flights were diverted from Sydney Airport.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0112/31/national/national3.html

It really is sad to think about all the destruction that is going on. I pray that they can get things under control very soon.

It's not getting any better http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/frown.gif

Sydney urged to stay calm as fires blaze on

http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/12/30/sydney.fires.panic/index.html

fallinasleep,

Are you in Sydney right now? I wondered how the New Years Eve Fireworks display was? I know how bad the visability is, and I wondered how it turned out and if there was a large crowd?

I was there this year for almost 6 months, and I have to say I love Australia. I was living in Bondi, and It was so beautiful. I am sickend that people are still starting more fires. It is horrible. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/frown.gif

Today seems to have bought a slight pause, altho it is meant to be hot with a late change.
Unfortunately that may mean gusty winds.
I am at the Northern Beaches area of Sydney and the smoke can be smelt and the haze can cut down visibilty to a few hundred metres.

However as I speak , the haze is lifting and it just looks like a grey day.

See http://www.abc.net.au/ for up to date info.

Thanks for the concern. So far no human lives have been lost.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pointsgirl:
fallinasleep,

Are you in Sydney right now? I wondered how the New Years Eve Fireworks display was? </font>

I actually spent NYE in Melbourne and spent Christmas in Sydney. I arrived in SYD on Christmas Eve and it was a gorgeous, really hot day with clear blue skies. The next afternoon, the skies turned dark, and it stayed that way until I left five days later.

The fireworks along the Yarra River in Melbourne were nice despite some drizzle during the display (and sadly it started raining around 7pm on NYE so there were a lot of unhappy campers who had arrived early to take advantage of some of the pre-fireworks outdoor entertainment programs). I like the way the city has the fireworks set up along various points along the river to ease congestion. Another nice touch is the shooting flames (which usually go off nightly after sunset I believe) from the towers along the river next to Southgate. Having said that, I don't think I have ever seen a more crowded space before and after midnight along the Crown Entertainment Complex (and I live in NYC!).

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- A major bush fire has broken out in the heart of Sydney suburbia, threatening thousands of homes in the Pennant Hills area about 25 kilometers (16 miles) north west of the city center.

Fire officials are saying this latest blaze appears to have been deliberately lit with no other apparent cause for the fire, which broke out around 2pm Sydney time.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/01/01/fires.sydney/index.html

Thankfully the wind has died down overnight and today may not be as hot as first thought..let's hope so anyway.

There is a large fire burning around Pymble and Turramurra and is burning around 16kms north west of Sydney CBD.

There are also major flare ups around the Blue Mountains and the South Coast.

We are covered with smoke haze once again today, though it's not as bad as previous days.

So far no additional properties have been lost and let's hope it stays that way.

Phoebe

Graphic in Sydney Morning Herald shows locations of brushfires:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0201/04/national/graphic2.html

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by 0524:
Graphic in Sydney Morning Herald shows locations of brushfires</font>

Thanks for the link..I hadn't seen that before.

BTW...we call them Bushfires here. We consider Brushfires to be small grass fires that are put out in the matter of seconds http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

Phoebe

There were 2 sets of fireworks for the year of 2002. The one at 9PM was very short (only 10 mins) and apparently only launched from two sites. The one at midnight was much better even though I did not get a chance to see it since I was celebrating indoors but there were a lot less people watching the fireworks than expected.