Winds, heat spark fires in eastern Australia

Two wildfires, fueled by hot winds, still threatened property in eastern Australia, but firefighters say easing winds may help bring the blazes under control. The emergency warnings for the fires at Shallow Bay and at Purfleet, near Taree, along New South Wales' midnorth coast were lowered to "watch and act," the Australian Broadcast Corp. reported Thursday. At the Great Lakes in New South Wales, fire threatened 10 houses from the Shallow Bay fire while the Perfleet fire burned through nearly 90 hectares and threatens 15 properties, ABC said. "We have got firefighters on those properties, but still a while to go until we can deem this fire under control because it still is quite warm and windy out there," a Rural Fire Service representative said. Meanwhile, large parts of Queensland suffered through another day of record September temperatures, ABC said. Weather officials said more than 30 temperature records -- some dating back to the late 1800s -- were crushed across Queensland in the spring heat wave. The weather bureau said Thursday was the hottest day in September on record for communities from Julia Creek to the northwest to Stanthorpe in the south. Earlier the Perfleet fire forced the closure of the Pacific Highway south of Taree, but it has reopened. The State Emergency Service said it responded to 40 reports of fallen trees and roof damage in the Sydney region, ABC said. Strong winds also caused power outages in Sydney, affecting homes and businesses at Rozelle and several northern neighborhoods. In Victoria, emergency services personnel said they received more than 1,300 calls because of the strong winds, 900 of them in Melbourne. The Royal Melbourne Show closed early because of the weather."We're experiencing a number of trees down across roads which obviously presents a traffic hazard and about four or five instances where falling trees have brought down power lines," SES regional commander Peter Stanley said. In Gippsland, a 7-year-old girl was injured when a tree fell on a vehicle. Strong winds also toppled a tree onto a vehicle, trapping two adults and three children inside, ABC said.