By GREG ANSLEY
CANBERRA - Firefighters and police were late yesterday evacuating yet another small town, as fires blazing around Sydney began to breach containment lines built up during yesterday's unexpected respite from strong winds and high temperatures.
Thunderstorms dropped some rain over the Blue Mountains, but brought more danger than relief.
Lightning strikes and winds gusting up to 95 km/h threatened to drive firefighters back to the defence of property only.
Weather forecasts predict a further four days at least of hot, dry and windy conditions.
Rural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperburg said yesterday's lull allowed the 15,000 firefighters from four states battling the ring of flame around Sydney to contain to some degree most of the major fires.
"But in the absence of good weather - that is, the odd bit of hail and seven or eight inches of rain - these containment lines could most generously be described as tenuous in the extreme," he said.
More than 100 fires continue to rage throughout New South Wales. New grass fires are breaking out around Canberra, and there is a continuing threat from arsonists, believed to have started at least 40 of the fires.
Yesterday two more teenagers were arrested after allegedly trying to start fires, joining eight other men and boys caught in a statewide crackdown led by a special police task force.
As the battle continued, Prime Minister John Howard paid tribute to firefighters in his New Year message.
"They exemplify the core Australian spirit of mateship, of pulling together in times of common adversity," he said.
In Sydney, Premier Bob Carr set aside the statewide total fire ban to allow last night's traditional, multi-million dollar harbourside New Year fireworks to go ahead.
"The Lord Mayor's planned this party, but it's a signature for Sydney, it's seen all around the world on the BBC, on CNN, and if the Lord Mayor wants that to go ahead, it goes ahead," he said.
There was some good news from the Blue Mountains; a number of previously endangered towns on the lower slopes are now considered safe, and the containment line heading off the worst of the fires continues to edge its way west.
The fire in the Royal National Park, south of Sydney, has also been beaten.
Revised estimates suggest that 60 per cent of the park has been destroyed, rather than the 80 per cent feared, raising hopes that the toll on wildlife and bush may be lower and recovery faster than expected.
But Koperburg warned that the fragile lines could easily be breached, as they were threatening to do late yesterday near the small town of Hilltop, north of Mittagong in the southern highlands.
Elderly residents and people living in about 20 homes on the fringe of the town were evacuated, and other residents were told to be ready to leave.
Evacuation begins as fires cross lines around Sydney
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