Firefighters battle to save homes near Sydney as fires rage

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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1. Fire engine driving to fire 2. Fire trucks in smoke and haze 3. Tracking shot of fire 4. Fire truck disappearing into smoke 5. Tracking shot of fire 6. Trees in flames 7. Various of firefighters hosing flames 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Fire fighter: "Doing some property protection here." Question: How's it looking? "Not too good at the moment. The wind's getting up and you can see it's taking it into the tree behind you there." Question: How hot is she (the temperature) today? "Oh, it must be well into the thirty-eights (degrees celsius) or 40." 9. Fire fighter running hose to fire 10. Flames moving towards house 11. Trees in flames 12. Fire engines driving along road 13. Fire raging in trees 14. Road shot with emergency vehicles in background 15. Close shot flames on ground, pan to road 16. Firefighter running toward house, fire raging in background 17. Walk through garden to flames behind the house, pan to firefighters at scene 18. Two men walking out of smoke, faces covered 19. Firefighters battling flames 20. Fire fighters by pool in backyard, pan across to house, smoke-filled sky 21. Man emerges from house, UPSOUND: (English) Home owner: "Pretty bad isn't it?" 22. Pan from cloud of smoke to house 23. SOUNDBITE (English) Home owner: "We already did a lot of clearing because we thought it might get a bit dangerous. But you can never do enough, can you? I've just got to put my mask on." 24. Aerial of house burning 25. Various of possum rescued by fire fighter 26. Aerial of house burning STORYLINE: Firefighters on Tuesday were battling to save homes on the western fringe of Australia's largest city and along the coast north of Sydney as hot weather and strong winds fanned flames. More than 1,500 firefighters were battling 55 wild fires burning across New South Wales state on Tuesday as temperatures rose to almost 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). The worst blazes were at Londonderry, on Sydney's suburban fringe, and near Newcastle, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Sydney, fire officials said. Some 35 fire crews were fighting the fire at Londonderry, which was closing in on at least four homes. One man's home was dangerously close to the flames. More houses were threatened near Newcastle, a spokeswoman for the Rural Fire Service said. At Wakefield, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of Sydney, three properties were evacuated on Tuesday and up to 40 other rural residences were in danger, the spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A major road was also closed briefly as the fire roared through the area. Several properties were also under threat from a bushfire on the north coast of New South Wales, with more than 100 firefighters and a water-dumping helicopter trying to control that blaze, the spokeswoman said. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/17e0640c5fd180f4b4113dd5a44cb1eb Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork