Vic: Victorian firefighters heading to NSW

AAP General News (Australia)
12-01-2006
Vic: Victorian firefighters heading to NSW

MELBOURNE, Dec 1 AAP - More than 100 volunteer firefighters from Victoria are heading
to NSW where more than 70 blazes are raging across the state.

The 116 firefighters left Victoria at 10.30am (AEDT) today and will begin fighting
fires around Mudgee.

Horror conditions with low humidity, northerly wind gusts and temperatures in the mid-to-high
30s will greet the firefighters.

A spokeswoman for Victoria's Country Fire Authority (CFA) said the three strikeforce
teams would be backed by support and administration staff.

There are fears property in NSW may come under threat from the fires, as conditions
worsen near Coonabarabran, with an unknown number of fires also burning in inaccessible
terrain in the nearby Pilliga Nature Reserve.

A key koala habitat in NSW is one of several areas under threat by bushfires today

More than 100,000 hectares have been burnt out in the Pilliga, where a key koala habitat
is under threat, since lightning strikes sparked bushfires two days ago.

AAP xlc/ce/jm/cdh

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES NSW CFA

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