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House destroyed as firefighters battle bushfires in western Sydney Two firefighters injured in western Sydney bushfires
(about 2 hours later)
A house in Sydney's Blue Mountains has been lost as firefighters battle 40 uncontained blazes that have caused mass evacuations. Bushfires in New South Wales have destroyed at least two houses and injured two firefighters.
New South Wales premier Barry O'Farrell said a house had been lost on Hawkesbury Road in Winmalee and there were unconfirmed reports of two firefighters injured battling the blaze there. The NSW rural fire service (RFS) said one house had been destroyed in Hawkesbury Road at Winmalee, in the Blue Mountains, and two firefighters battling the blaze there suffered minor burns.
"[There is] one confirmed report of a house lost in Hawkesbury Road, unconfirmed reports of two injured firefighters at the same location," he told NSW's parliament on Tuesday. A second house was lost in Marsden Park in the Blacktown area, in Sydney's west.
"This is an ongoing situation." Five firefighters had been treated for smoke inhalation.
Some 59 bush and grassfires are burning across New South Wales, causing the evacuation of homes and a western Sydney university campus. Briefing parliament on Tuesday, the NSW premier, Barry O'Farrell, said 59 bush and grassfires were burning across NSW with more than 500 firefighters and 200 appliances on the ground.
O'Farrell told NSW's parliament more than 500 firefighters and 200 appliances were responding and a number of emergency warnings were in place across the state, with four fires at a "watch and act" level. RFS deputy commissioner Rob Rogers said having so many fires in such a concentrated area around Sydney's greater west was a challenge.
"Strong, gusty northwesterly winds continue to affect the firegrounds which are not expected to abate until later this evening," O'Farrell said. "A southerly change is expected to come through Greater Sydney Basin between 5 and 7pm." "As far as the crow flies they're all not that far apart," he told Fairfax Radio.
He said there were a number of emergency warnings in place across the state, with four fires at watch and act level. "Unfortunately I think we'll probably see some more losses before the end of the day."
The worst blazes are at Tickner Road in Castlereagh, where a 60-hectare grass fire is threatening homes, and a three-hectare fire at Bennett and Richmond Roads in Windsor. Winamalee high school was evacuated on Tuesday afternoon and was being used as an evacuation centre for residents of the small Blue Mountains town of Hawkesbury Heights.
There are also fires at Marsden Park, Winmalee, Wollombi, Lane Cove and Leets Vale. In Castlereagh around 300 students from St Paul's grammar school were evacuated to Penrith's Whitewater Park after an emergency warning was issued for a fire threatening properties on nearby Devlin Street.
Earlier, about 2,500 people were evacuated from a University of Western Sydney campus after a power outage. Sisters Melinda and Samantha Millard, from Horsley Park, rushed to Castlereagh to help their horse trainer only to be told it was too dangerous.
UWS says the power outage has affected the entire Richmond region, with bushfires preventing repairs. Melinda said her friends were at the heart of the fire zone trying to save their horse training facility.
"The University of Western Sydney's Hawkesbury campus in Richmond has been closed this afternoon due to a power outage in the region," it said. "It's scary. It's not even my place, but knowing it could go any minute now is making me really emotional" she said.
"As a precaution students and staff have been sent home." "We want to help people and the animals."
In Castlereagh around 300 students from St Paul's grammar school have been evacuated to Penrith's white water park after an emergency warning was issued for a fire threatening properties on nearby Devlin Street. More than 2,000 people were evacuated from a University of Western Sydney (UWS) campus following a power failure affecting the entire Richmond area.
The school's principal Paul Kidson says he and a small number of fire-trained staff remain at the school. The RFS issued emergency warnings for fires around the greater Sydney region including Marsden Park and Windsor.
"Human lives were always more important than property," he told ABC radio. The warm 50km/h winds fanning the fire were likely to ease on Tuesday evening, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson told Australian Associated Press.
Police helped with the evacuation. "[Tuesday] was certainly the hottest and windiest [day] of the week," they said.
However, the RFS is advising parents not to try to pick their children from the centre as fires are still burning in the area. It hit 32C in Sydney on Tuesday but temperatures on Wednesday will be about 10C cooler and winds will calm to about 30 km/h.
In Windsor the fire burning at Bennett Rd, has crossed Richmond Rd and entered Windsor Downs Nature Reserve, the RFS says. "It will be a significantly different day," the spokesperson said.
There have been unconfirmed reports of property losses along Hawkesbury Road in Winmalee, in the Blue Mountains. The police minister, Mike Gallacher, was being escorted by police under lights and sirens to a briefing with the RFS at Homebush.
• Live coverage of the bushfire emergency Residents from Windsor in Sydney's north-west were confronting a bushfire just metres from their homes.
Smoke billowed over Windsor Downs nature reserve as water-bombing helicopters and crews battled grass fires fanned by winds up to 80km/h on Tuesday.
Sanctuary Drive residents Michael and Sandra Bellamy left work to return home and protect their house when they realised there was actually a fire in the reserve bordering their property.
"I got a text message from my daughter saying that I should probably go home," Ms Bellamy said.
However, police road closures prevented her from reaching the family home, where they have lived for 19 years.
"I wasn't allowed in. Then my neighbour came by in the car and said, 'quick, get in' and I jumped in," she said.
Her husband, Michael, was confident firefighters would be able to contain the bushfire, one of more than 50 burning across NSW driven by the winds and hot temperatures.
"These guys are here to stop it in its track if it does come this way," he said.
"The wind is a bit of a worry, it's swirling around a lot. We don't know where it will end up, and we're still not sure."
Many residents had fireproofed their properties ahead of bushfire season, he said.
"I have got a pretty good fire plan set up here and we're ready to protect the house. I just wanted to make sure I was here to protect the house."
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