Friday, 16 January 2009

Scorching day sets off walls of flame, The Australian, 16 January, 2009. Picture Amos Aikman.

Scorching day sets off walls of flame

Overington, Caroline. John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 16 Jan 2009: 3.
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Flames were fanned by hot, gusty winds. In the west of Sydney, the temperature reached 43C, hot enough for a late-model Lexus to catch fire on the M4 freeway, setting off a blaze that raced down a hill, taking out 3ha of grassland, threatening houses, two other cars and a shed.
"All of a sudden the wind died down, it went quiet and then, whoosh, the black smoke suddenly came flying this way and then the flames followed," Ms [Felicity Blackhall] said, with tears in her eyes. "I had a little bag with my (photo) negatives ready, but it came up so fast there was no time to evacuate."
Earlier in the day, another fire broke out in a gully at Mount Kuring-gai in Sydney's northern suburbs, burning behind factories near Gundah Road in the Berowra Valley. Workers from 15 factories were evacuated.

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