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The deadly sting in Sydney's tail
By Geoff Hiscock
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- International surveys regularly rank Sydney among the most liveable cities in the world. Its harbor is the backdrop for a million postcards, its lifestyle the lure for hundreds of thousands of short- and long-term visitors. But the sting in its beautiful tail is the ferocity of the bushfires that can erupt so suddenly in the southern summer, taking lives, destroying houses, blanketing the city in thick smoke and cutting it off from the rest of Australia. Already Sydney's 2002-03 bushfire season looks as if it may approach the terrible scale of January 1994, when 800 fires raged along the eastern coast and flames raced through suburban wooded valleys to within a few kilometers of the Sydney central business district. Along with the houses destroyed this week in more than 70 fires around Sydney, key road and rail lines were cut on Wednesday, Thursday and again Friday, stranding thousands of commuters. Hundreds of heavy trucks hauling goods out of the city were double-parked on the main north road from Thursday night onwards after fire outbreaks forced police to close the northern freeway. Incendiary sparkBut how and why does it happen so often in Australia's biggest and most advanced metropolis? The answer lies in a combination of Sydney's geography, the passion of its 4 million inhabitants for greenery, and this year, the incendiary spark of the worst drought on record. To the north, west and south of the city, vast national parks provide sanctuary for wildlife and a place for Sydneysiders to enjoy bushwalks, boating and picnics. Extending from the national parks almost into the heart of the city are hundreds of little "green belts" -- strips of woodlands and greenery that give the suburbs their forest-like appearance. Those parks are full of highly combustible gum trees, or eucalypts, that can explode into flames in the wrong circumstances. A lightning strike, a carelessly discarded cigarette butt or worse, the work of an arsonist, can soon turn this bushland into a raging inferno, particularly when hot, dry winds are blowing. Dangers
Most Sydneysiders, particularly those who live in the bushy outer suburbs or in the heavily wooded Blue Mountains to the west of the city, are well aware of the dangers they face. They know how to wet down their houses, fill their gutters and keep a cleared area around them. Many of them are members of the volunteer bush fire brigades or emergency services. They train regularly to fight fires or give emergency aid in other natural disasters such as storms. Because fires in the mountains are a regular occurrence, building regulations make it mandatory for some houses to have sprinklers on the roof and their own emergency water and power supplies. But even the best training and equipment on the ground is not enough to combat fires when they start "crowning" -- exploding from tree-top to tree-top, racing above ground and sending out a firestorm of burning embers that can light spot fires 5 kilometers from the main front. That is why air power has become so valuable for Sydney's firefighters -- in particularly the giant helitankers leased from the United States for the first time last year. These helicopters can carry a massive 2,000 gallons (7,500 liters) in one lift, and can dump more 30,000 gallons (110,000 liters) an hour on fires. Already this week they have been a welcome sight for Sydney residents battling the big blazes.
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