Bush and Forest Fires in Australia

16 January 2002

Current Situation: NSW bushfire crisis declared over
(Source and Copyright:  ABC News Online, 16 January 2002)

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) has declared the state's bushfire disaster over.  The 24 day crisis, which is one the the longest firefighting campaigns in the state's history, saw 100 fires destroy 120 properties. RFS Commissioner Phil Koperberg says volunteers will continue to mop up those fires still smouldering across the state. "That which remains uncontained will be the focus of extensive resourcing principally by RFS firefighters and land management agencies," Mr Koperberg said. "We've got many days yet of work to do to source hot spots and to extinguish them."

Rain douses fires

The RFS says overnight rain had a substantial impact on the bushfires, with 40 millimetres fallen directly on to the fire front at Shoalhaven. Rain has also helped contain blazes in the Hawkesbury, the Bulga and Yengo National Parks in the Hunter region and further north between Coffs Harbour and Grafton.  Lightning sparked a number of fires at both Gloucester and Kempsey but crews are confident today's milder weather conditions will help to contain them. Aerial surveillance of the affected areas is currently underway to get a better picture of the rain's impact but spokesman Cameron Wade says there is still a lot of work to be done. "The rain doesn't put out fires - it's very similar to waterbombing where you still need ground crews to go in and totally put a fire out," he said. "But what it has done is, it has quietened the fire fronts down enough that we can now actually look at putting crews in the front line of the fires and actually starting the mopping up operations and strengthening the containment lines around these fires,"he said. Flooding in the region near Wollongong and Kiama last night forced the evacuation of about 35 people from caravan parks and a camping site on a beach near Gerringong.  Around Sydney, the strong winds and rain have damaged homes and knocked down powerlines, particularly around Liverpool, Hornsby, Penrith and the Hawkesbury.  A house at Leonay near Penrith in Sydney's west has been destroyed after it was
struck by lightning during the overnight storms. No residents were injured but a firefighter has been taken to hospital with an eye injury received while fighting the blaze. A spokesman for the SES Peter O'Neil has advised property owners finding damage this morning to seek assistance: "if they can report it to their nearest SES unit on 132 500".

South coast

On the state's far south coast, there has been substantial rain overnight across much of the Deua National Park, where a big bushfire has been burning for more than a month. Falls of at least 30 millimetres have been received along the far south coast, with 45 millimetres recorded at Moruya.  The rain has been lighter inland and this morning the Rural Fire Service will use an aircraft to gauge the impact of the falls across the fire front. A big back-burning operation in the northern and southern parts of the Deua park was completed yesterday reducing the fire risk and last night the last of the interstate firefighters, a specialist task force from Queensland, left Moruya. 

Fire Weather Forecast for the Pacific Region

Fig.1. Fire Weather Index for the 
Pacific Region for 17 January 2002.
(Source: ECPC Fire Weather Index Forecast)

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is responsible for the management of fire prevention and suppression on public lands in Victoria. The last updated bushfire statistic of 16 January 2002 shows 21 controlled fires. The locations of these fires are displayed in the statewide fire situation map below.

Fig.2. Statewide Fire Situation Map of Victoria, 16 January 2002
(for legend of symbols see: National Resources and Environment)

Modis Land Rapid Response System

Fig.3. These image was acquired by the Moderate-resolution 
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on 15 January 2002 
and shows fires burning in New South Wales. For details see: 
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/products_rr.html 
and image search support at:
http://www.uni-freiburg.de/fireglobe/current/MODIS.htm 
(For earlier satellite images: see Australia fire updates of 30 
December 2001 - 14 February 2002)

The Age Company
An animated map "The trail of Destruction" generated by The Age Company (2001) shows the development of fires starting on Boxing Day 2001:
http://www.theage.com.au/flash/special/firemap.html

CSA RADARSAT-1 Disaster Watch 

CSA RADARSAT-1 Disaster Watch offers the following scenes covering the Australia fires:

•  02 Jan 02 08:36:29 UTC; S1; cycle 93 orbit 184.89987 duration 0.00900; OBR -GSS orbit 186.3128)

•  03 Jan 02 19:21:21 UTC; S2; cycle 93 orbit 205.59160 duration 0.00900; OBR -GSS orbit 207.0713)

•  05 Jan 02 08:48:54 UTC; F3N-16; cycle 93 orbit 227.89808 duration 0.00910; OBR -GSS orbit 229.3107)

•  07 Jan 02 19:04:47 UTC; F4; cycle 93 orbit 262.59390 duration 0.00883; OBR -GSS orbit 264.00652)

For more information see: http://www.uni-freiburg.de/fireglobe/emergency/radarsat.htm

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology is the National Meteorological Service for Australia and provides essential meteorological services to all sectors of the Australian community.

Fire danger:

Northern Territory	High south of Tennant Creek
Western Australia
CENTRAL WEST	High
LOWER WEST	High
CENTRAL WHEATBELT	High
GREAT SOUTHERN	High
SOUTHWEST	High
SOUTH COASTAL	High
TOWN OF PORT HEDLAND	High
SHIRE OF ROEBOURNE	High
SHIRE OF ASHBURTON	High
SHIRE OF EAST PILBARA	High
KIMBERLEY	Moderate toHigh