Cooler Weather Offers Respite in Australia Fires

Cooler weather eased forest fires close to central Sydney early today, giving firefighters a chance to contain some of the blazes raging across southeastern Australia.

Huge forest and bush fires had roared to within five miles of downtown Saturday, when a fourth person died in the firestorms that have destroyed up to 150 homes.

The sky over Sydney glowed a sinister red early today, sirens wailed, and huge columns of smoke rose on the city’s edges, although many fires have been contained. Television networks broadcast footage from helicopters of whole streets burned out in some southern and northern suburbs.

More than 1.2 million acres of forest and grassland--1 1/2 times the size of Rhode Island--have burned in the wildfires.

The forest fires flared a week ago, fanned by gusty 60 m.p.h. winds and summer temperatures topping 104 degrees.

Temperatures dropped to about 78 degrees this morning, and the winds also abated in many areas.

Bushfire Services Department spokesman Bruce McEwan said firefighters used the cooler conditions to burn back acres of forest litter ahead of fire fronts as a means of checking the advance of some blazes.

Authorities suspect that more than half the 125 fires were set. The government has posted a $68,000 reward, and by today it had received 850 calls from people claiming to have seen arsonists. Eleven people have been arrested.

The fires are the worst in Australia since European colonization 200 years ago, said fire official Phil Koperberg.

A thick, smoky haze covered the area, triggering automatic street lights hours before sunset. The shells of Sydney’s landmark Opera House, normally a bright white in sunshine, were a dull orange. People miles away from the fires reported ash falling from the sky.

“It came up the valley between the two houses like a locomotive,” said one weary resident of the northern Sydney suburb of Lindfield whose house was badly damaged.

In the southern suburb of Jannali, a 37-year-old woman died and her two daughters were badly burned Saturday when a blaze overran their house.

As night fell Saturday, residents of the community of West Como gathered at the local cricket ground to talk and cry.

“I have lost everything,” said Jeff O’Brien, 36. “The house is insured, but the contents inside aren’t. It’s bad news, mate.”