‘Traumatic and exhausting’: Relief for weary firefighters as ALL bushfires in New South Wales are contained for the first time during hellish summer
- There are no uncontained fires burning in NSW for the first time this season
- Rural Fire Service announced 30 fires were extinguished due to heavy rainfall
- Downpour last weekend saw parts of the state record more than 300mm in 48hr
All bush and grass fires burning across NSW are contained for the first time this bushfire season, authorities say.
The NSW Rural Fire Service on Thursday afternoon announced the news while describing the season as traumatic and exhausting.
There are 24 fires burning in NSW on Thursday evening. All are south of Sydney.
Relief at last: There are no uncontained fires burning in NSW for the first time this season, RFS said on Thursday
The devastating bushfire season saw 2,400 homes have been destroyed and 25 lives lost. In Mallacoota, Victoria, 4,000 people were evacuated on New Year’s Eve when a disastrous fire threatened the area
Heavy rainfall last weekend saw parts of the state record more than 300mm within 48 hours along the coast.
The east coast low downpours, which caused widespread flash flooding and storm damage, put out 30 fires on the weekend, the RFS revealed earlier this week.
The Lindfield Road fire – which had been burning through the Port Macquarie region for 210 days – was extinguished on Wednesday after burning through 858 hectares of which 400 were peat soils underground.
NSW residents took to Twitter to thank the RFS for their hard word and sacrifice during such a devastating bushfire season
A car is seen under floodwater at Marrickville in Sydney on Sunday after the massive downpour over the weekend
The Currowan fire burning in the Shoalhaven region was extinguished on Saturday night after burning for 74 days and destroying 312 homes.
Fires in the Snowy Valley and Monaro areas were the last to remain uncontained before Thursday afternoon.
‘All fires are contained so we can really focus on helping people rebuild,’ RFS deputy commissioner Rob Rogers said on Thursday.
There were more than 11,000 bush and grass fires across NSW this fire season with more than 5.4 million hectares burnt.
Some 2,400 homes have been destroyed and 25 lives lost.
Two volunteers are pictured celebrating the first major rainfall in months, in January