Residents endure second sleepless night as bushfires burn at Menai, Holsworthy
A burnt-out patch of the Georges River bank could be the ignition point where firebugs started the blaze which engulfed 2800 hectares of south west Sydney.
NSW
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A BURNT-OUT patch of the Georges River bank could be the ignition point where firebugs started the blaze which engulfed 2800 hectares of south west Sydney.
Police revealed today they were called, along with fire crews, to a rash of spot fires on the western bank of the river near Casula train station on Friday night, the day before the devastating fire began.
“On Friday night, at about 9.55pm we were called to a number of spot fires,” Liverpool Police Acting Superintendent Paul Albury said.
Crews from the Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue NSW stayed at the scene until 4am Saturday to ensure the spot fires were out. However at 2.45pm Saturday, flames erupted again, this time on the eastern side of the river then spread under howling north-westerly winds.
“It’s possible that it’s reignited, it’s also possible that the fire has been separately lit on Saturday,” Supt Albury said.
A two minute walk into dense scrub at Leacock Regional Park, reveals a strip of burnt vegetation, in an areas littered with smashed bottles and food wrappers. On the eastern bank directly opposite is further burnt-out scrub.
A woman on the station platform at Casula raised the alarm on Friday as she saw flames but told police she did not see anyone fleeing the area.
“We’d ask that anybody who has young people that area playing in these reserves to talk to young people about the dangers of lighting bushfires,” Supt Albury
“If people are identified responsible for this fire they will be charged.”
He said the investigation could take several months.
“There is no lighting, there is no CCTV footage and there was very limited people walking in this area,” he said.
The fire was downgraded on Sunday night after threatening thousands of homes between Casula and Menai but more harrowing stories of survival emerge on Monday morning.
Waz Masr woke at 2.50am Monday to flames leaping at the back fence of his home.
“I thought, ‘this could take the house and we can’t even run’,” Mr Masr said.
“The trees were just lighting up. It was really scary.”
RFS crews arrived to bring the blaze under control but he and his neighbours spent the morning hosing spot fires with their garden hoses.
“SICKENING AND REPREHENSIBLE” ACT
If a huge bushfire in Sydney’s southwest on the weekend was deliberately lit, as authorities suspect, it’s a “sickening and reprehensible” act of arson, the NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner says.
Fire investigators are working with NSW Police’s Strikeforce Capri to determine the cause of the blaze which started on Saturday at Casula and is being treated as suspicious. Detectives want to determine if there is a link to several spot fires in the Leacock Reserve area on Friday night.
Less than 24 hours later a bushfire flared up about 2.30pm on Saturday in the same area.
It’s now burnt through more than 2400 hectares of land and come dangerously close to homes.
“The area where we believe the fire commenced has been forensically examined,” Acting Superintendent Paul Albury said.
“We have taken a number of statements from people who called the police and fire services in regards to the fire.”
Detectives have also looked at CCTV footage from around Leacock Reserve.
It’s unclear if Friday’s fires reignited on Saturday or if someone may have deliberately lit the blaze which has now burned through almost 2500 hectares of bushland focused on the Holsworthy military range.
RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons slammed the alleged firebug, saying any such act would be “sickening and reprehensible”.
“How dare anyone in society think they can deliberately light a fire, endanger all these men and women — the vast majority who are volunteers — putting their lives on the line to try and bring these fires under control and, in turn, put so many members of the community (at risk),” the commissioner said.
Mr Fitzsimmons noted it was potentially “a very serious crime” with NSW having the toughest penalties in Australia.
Offenders can face hefty fines and up to 25 years in jail, he said on Monday.
ANOTHER SLEEPLESS NIGHT
Conditions have eased for the huge bushfire near residential areas in southwest Sydney but firefighters remain on alert because of the risk of high winds and temperatures during the day.
Residents endured a second nervous night on Sunday as the fire that’s so far blackened about 2500 hectares continued to rage, with hundreds of firefighters working to contain the blaze.
RELATED: Flames reach within metres of homes and trains
The fire, which began on Saturday afternoon and may have been deliberately lit, was fanned by strong winds on Sunday and approached suburban streets.
Conditions today are expected to help the firefighting effort, with winds at about half the strength they were on Sunday as the fire continues to burn in a south easterly direction towards Barden Ridge.
Advice - Moorebank Av Holsworthy fire. Fire still burning towards Barden Ridge. Winds forecast to strengthen today, which may increase fire activity. Conditions may change quickly. Stay informed via the NSW RFS website. Linescan shows activity at 530am.https://t.co/WeSkQSYWdG pic.twitter.com/GakvNKE60O
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) April 15, 2018
But high temperatures remain a cause for concern, Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers warned.
“Still quite a difficult day ahead,” he told Nine Network. “I think we’ve got a long way to go before we’re out of the woods.”
The RFS cautioned that while the threat had eased, residents in the areas of Voyager Point,
Pleasure Point, Sandy Point, Alfords Point, Barden Ridge, Illawong, Menai and Bangor should continue to monitor the situation and be prepared to activate bushfire survival plans should conditions change. Heathcote Road remains closed between Macarthur Drive and New Illawarra Road, while Old Illawarra Road at Barden Ridge has reopened.
A spokesman for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)
said the Lucas Heights campus would be closed today to non-essential staff
HOLSWORTHY TO LUCAS HEIGHTS: Heathcote Rd expected to remain closed btn Macarthur Dr & New Illawarra Rd for some time due to a bushfire. Use Princes Hwy or M5. pic.twitter.com/JktW2KzfEs
— Live Traffic Sydney (@LiveTrafficSyd) April 15, 2018
“Some 1,200 people work at the Lucas Heights campus. Based on current advice and to minimise local road and traffic impacts, we have advised ANSTO staff who are not performing essential services to work from home,” the spokesman said.
“All non-essential ANSTO staff are advised to work from home tomorrow; all contractors, tenants and construction workers on our building projects are advised not to attend our campus tomorrow; and the childcare centre has been closed.
RFS spokesman Greg Allan said on Sunday some properties had been damaged.
“We have had reports of impact on properties in west Menai and Barden Ridge but our crews at the moment are solely focused on fighting the fire,” he told AAP.
The fire tore through the Holsworthy military range and more than 500 personnel from the Rural Fire Service, Fire and Rescue NSW and the Australian Defence Force battled to protect properties.
Currently we have nearly 900 firefighters working on 48 bush and grass fires across NSW. 500 of those crews are working on the fire burning near Holsworthy and Menai. #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/sNShlzlQ3y
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) April 14, 2018
The blaze was downgraded from Watch-and-act to Advice about 2am this morning. Firefighters have taken advantage of the conditions to do a back burn along Heathcote Road near Pleasure Point as well as in areas of the Holsworthy military base.
A large number of firefighters remain on the ground working to slow the spread of the fire.
Residents in the suburbs of Voyager Point, Pleasure Point, Sandy Point and Illawong, Menai and Bangor were warned of the danger of ember attacks as many scrambled with hoses and buckets to protect their houses.
By 5pm, some Menai residents were starting to relax.
Daniel Borg, who lives on Hall Drive in Menai alongside bushland, admitted it was concerning to see how close the flames came.
“It was pretty scary,” he told AAP when finally opening a beer, thankful his house came with sprinklers on the roof.
NSW Police on Sunday evening announced a task force had been set up to investigate whether the fire, which began in the vicinity of Leacocks Reserve in Casula, was deliberately lit.