Bush fires in Australia subside

SYDNEY, Australia -- Stars were seen twinkling over Sydney on Saturday for the first time in a week after a cool sea breeze cleared smoke from 100 bush fires charring Australia's most populous state.

But even as the haze cleared, officials warned that the fire threat could return today when dry Outback winds are forecast to push southern hemisphere summer temperatures toward 104.

"Tomorrow is going to be one of the most potentially dangerous days we've ever faced as a community," New South Wales Premier Bob Carr said on a radio broadcast Saturday.

New South Wales fire chief Phil Koperberg urged communities along the 370-mile fire front to remain calm.

"The weather for the next 36 hours is not conducive to effective containment," Koperberg said.

The fires have been burning across New South Wales for a week -- about half of them set deliberately, authorities said. Five people have been arrested.

The moon lost its red-orange glow Saturday as a breeze pushed the fires, raging just 12 miles from Sydney, back on themselves.

"Good sea breezes are helping as they reach the western suburbs of Sydney," said Kevin O'Loughlin of the New South Wales Bureau of Meteorology.

15,000 firefighters

About 15,000 firefighters used the respite to make firebreaks and carry out controlled burns in forests and around threatened homes.

The most dangerous fires are burning in the Blue Mountains national park 50 miles west of Sydney, and along the city's southwest boundary.

More than 150 homes have been destroyed, more than 4,400 people evacuated and thousands of acres of forest and private land scorched. No deaths have been reported. Insurance officials estimate damages at more than $25 million.

Tinder-dry national parks were closed. National Parks and Wildlife Service director-General Brian Gilligan estimated that thousands of animals have died or been injured, but he said it is too dangerous to try rescues.

"People should stay out of the parks and let nature take its course," he said.

Nearly 80 percent of the 40,000-acre Royal National Park in Sydney's south has been blackened. It is the world's second-oldest national park after Yellowstone.

Australia's forests are dominated by eucalyptus and other oil-based trees that burn easily but regenerate quickly.