Blazes threaten Hobart, Port Lincoln

The Australian

October 11, 2006
BUSHFIRES are threatening Hobart and Port Lincoln on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula, a region where blazes killed nine people last year.

The Port Lincoln fire is burning out of control in the Rustler's Gully area, about 2km north of Port Lincoln, the Country Fire Service (CFS) said. It is one of about 10 blazes reported today in South Australia on a day of extreme fire danger.

Hobart residents are on high alert as a bushfire rages out of control just 2km from the city centre.

Several hundred homes are threatened by fire, which broke out in Mount Nelson, south of the city, about 1.40pm AEDT today.

Tasmania Fire Service senior station officer Danny Reid said the fire started at the top of a disused quarry and hot, dry winds were pushing it rapidly downhill through bushland at Proctors Road and a University of Tasmania reserve.

He said houses backing onto the bushland were under threat and residents had been advised to stay or return home to put out any sparks or embers.

"There's four or five streets that back onto the reserve. It's got the potential to threaten about 1000 homes," he said.

The CFS has warned Port Lincoln residents to immediately take shelter in their homes or in a solid structure.

"Residents should not attempt to enter or return to the area at this time, as access is restricted and the roads may not be safe," a CFS spokesman said.

About 20 firefighting vehicles and two water bomber aircraft were trying to contain the fire, the CFS said.

In January last year, nine people were killed and 113 others injured in bushfires north of Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula.

Some 80,000 hectares of land was damaged in blazes believed to have been started by a faulty car exhaust.

Today's other nine blazes are mainly small grass fires which the CFS said were under control.
Fire bans have been imposed in five districts across the state.

Temperatures were predicted to top 40 degrees celsius in some areas of the state today, with an expected maximum of 34 degrees in Adelaide.

The Country Fire Service described the high temperatures and accompanying northerly winds as extremely hazardous.