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Australia's Upper Blue Mountains Intact Despite Bushfires SYDNEY, Australia, January 11, 2002 (ENS) - Australians are calling Christmas 2001 "Black Christmas" after at least 100 bushfires that started Christmas Day blazed across great swaths of New South Wales. Authorities believe many fires were set by arsonists, and 26 people, mostly teens, have been arrested. Rains helped douse some of the worst fires in the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, which contains unique plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth.
While bush fires have affected Australia's lower Blue Mountains Region, tourism operators, including all tourist attractions higher up in the Blue Mountains, were not at risk from the fires and are carrying on business as usual. Some of the worst fires threatened the towns of Woodford and Faulconbridge in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Parklands in the Sydney suburbs were burned, and early last week towns around Sussex Inlet, 93 miles south of Sydney were threatened by the blazes. Hundreds of people were evacuated, but have now been allowed to return home. No lives have been lost, but an estimated 170 homes were burned across all areas. Milder conditions than expected have helped firefighters to contain the few blazes that remain out of control. The Shoalhaven fire, still burning in inaccessible bush in Morton National Park, remains the greatest concern of fire authorities, with the two American heli-tankers dropping water on its western front.
"We have been fortunate to have escaped the fires with the upper areas of the mountains unscathed," said Fryer. "There is a perception that the Blue Mountains Area is inaccessible and full of charred vegetation. This is totally untrue. We want to reassure domestic and international visitors that the Blue Mountains Region is a safe destination, with all accommodation, restaurants, tours and attractions open for business," she said. The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, two hours by road from the center of Sydney, includes over one million hectares (3,860 square miles) and attracts some three million visitors from Australia and overseas every year. Adjoining the Great Dividing Range, it includes vast bushland, spectacular cliffs and gorges, wilderness areas, waterfalls, and rivers. The blue mist covering the landscape is produced by the eucalypt forests, which release fine droplets into the air. The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area was formally inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in December 2000. It takes in eucalypt forests, heathlands, rainforests and swamps. More than 90 different eucalypt species are found in the Greater Blue Mountains, some 13 percent of all eucalypt species in the world. They grow in a great variety of habitats, from tall closed forests, through open forests and woodlands, to the stunted shrublands on the plateaus. In the deeper protected gullies of the mountains, there are small areas of warm temperate rainforest. The tall trees form a dense canopy, blocking out much of the light to the forest floor, an environment favored by ferns and orchids, mosses and lichens.
Koalas, which used to be abundant around the turn of the 20th century, are also believed to live in the park's forests in small numbers, park officials say. Possums, gliders, bandicoots, brown antechinuses and swamp wallabies all inhabit the Blue Mountains' closed forests. Common wombats, red-necked wallabies, wallaroos and swamp wallabies are all found in the Blue Mountains National Park, and eastern grey kangaroos can be found in quite large numbers. Blue Mountains National Park provides a refuge to 26 threatened animal species. Five of these species are listed as endangered: the broad-headed snake, a bird called the regent honeyeater, the southern brown bandicoot, the bush thick-knee and the Blue Mountains swamp skink. Although the upper ranges of the Blue Mountains have so far escaped fire damage, there is still a risk during these hot, dry months of the Australian summer. New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperberg has declared a total fire ban in the Blue Mountains. The weather forecast for this area is for very high temperature, low humidity and moderate to strong winds. These conditions are conducive to fire activity and the community is urged to take particular care. Koperberg said fire danger in this area will be extreme or approaching extreme, and no fire of any kind may be lit in the open. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All rights reserved. |
More than 1.24 million acres have been charred despite the efforts of
20,000 firefighters and more than 70 water bombing aircraft. Two giant
water bombing helicopters flown in from an Oregon company helped control
the fires, while a third from the same company, Erickson Air-Crane, was
borrowed from the state of Victoria as was equally effective.
The New South Wales tourism industry wants the world to know the Blue
Mountains were not badly damaged. "There has been a lot of incorrect and
sensationalized reporting in media around the world about the bush fire
threat to the Blue Mountains Region, said Kerry Fryer, CEO of Blue
Mountains Tourism Limited.
Some 46 species of mammal have been recorded in the Blue Mountains,
together with over 200 bird species, 58 reptile species and 32 amphibian
species.
