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At least 60 homes destroyed as thousands flee Australian bushfires
( 2001-12-26 14:10 ) (7 )

More than 60 properties have been destroyed and thousands of people forced to flee their homes as 4,000 firemen continued to battle bushfires raging in Australia's south-east early Wednesday.

Emergency services said the fires cut major highways, roads and rail lines and disrupted power supplies to more than 50,000 homes along the New South Wales (NSW) south coast to the border with Victoria.

Entire suburbs to the south and west of Sydney were evacuated, with homes destroyed in Penrith, Kurrajong, Warragamba, Mulgoa and Silverdale.

Shops and at least one service station were destroyed in several suburbs by a firestorm fanned by gale force winds and fuelled by temperatures up to 40 degrees celsius (more than 100 fahrenheit).

Thousands of people had to be accommodated overnight in clubs and entertainment centres.

Sydney remained blanketed by a heavy brown smoke haze which had been pushed by the winds from the southern and western suburbs.

About 1,500 people evacuated from Helensburgh in Sydney's south were taken to the NSW south coastal city of Wollongong, 100 kilometres (62 miles) away.

Hundreds of extra firefighters were brought in from unaffected areas to join the thousands already fighting the flames.

Rural Fire Services Commissioner Phil Koperberg, who was honoured for his leadership of the fire services during in the last great bushfires emergency of 1994 said the latest emergency was the worst he had seen.

Winds up to 100 kilometres (60 miles) an hour have created what he described as "terrifying firestorms" up to 60 metres high.

He said an estimated 4,000 people from all the services were trying to save properties and lives, "not attempting to put out the fires -- that's impossible at the moment."

"They have saved literally hundreds of houses in door-to-door firefighting in the past 12 hours," Koperberg told ABC radio.

He said the conditions could not have been worse.

"Fire travels ahead of a gale force wind, there is a almost unbelievable attack of embers and flame, reaching heights of 100 feet or more," he said.

"The noise is almost unbelievable, it's a terrifying prospect for firefighters to deal with let alone residents who don't have that sort of exposure on a regular basis."

The State Emergency Service (SES) said the situation was expected to remain serious throughout the day.

The electicity authority, Integral Energy, estimated almost 12,000 homes in NSW remained without electricity early Wednesday after the fires reduced power poles to ashes and destroyed high voltage mains.

Integral Energy had crews working through the night but they have been restricted in their repair work by raging flames and road closures.

The company's supply network has been badly damaged, with the worst affected areas Helensburgh and Otford, south of Sydney, and the Huskisson and Sussex Inlet areas on the NSW south coast.

"There are 11,800 homes still without power in the worst fire affected areas," an Integral Energy spokeswoman said.

"Our network was badly damaged and many poles have burnt to the ground."