5/7/11 - Wild winds cause havoc across the state
Published: 5th July 2011
Wild winds across NSW caused havoc with emergency services this evening.With gusts up to 115 km/h, trees across the Blue Mountains were blown down, causing the closure of The Great Western Highway for 10 hours. One tree came down on a train, stranding passengers. Strike teams from Sydney were sent to assist and relieve exhausted local crews.
Elsewhere in the Mountains, Springwood Fire Station was responded to a Nursing Home in Leura, which had lost a portion of it's roof due to the winds. Crews were responsible for relocating patients to another section of the nursing home which had not been affected.
On the South Coast fire crews responded to a major fire on the Princes Hwy Bomaderry. A large factory complex was fully involved in fire when the first crew arrived on scene at 6.10pm, 5 minutes after the 000 call. The fire was fought by 8 FRNSW and 8 RFS crews, consisting of 80 firefighters. Crews used ground monitors and hoselines to control the fire, and stop it spreading to 4 houses that were in danger from the fire. In total 15 houses were evacuated, as they were in the smoke plume and potentially in danger from roof sheeting that may be ripped off by the winds. Fire crews were still on scene the following morning.