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Sydney Gets Reprieve as Bushfires Burn in Eastern Australia

Sydney Gets Reprieve as Bushfires Burn in Eastern Australia

(Bloomberg) -- The bushfire threat facing Australia’s largest city was lowered Wednesday as authorities continued to tackle blazes threatening rural communities along the eastern seaboard.

Despite facing a “catastrophic” danger level on Tuesday, Sydney was largely unscathed -- with emergency services quickly saving homes in a northern suburb by dumping fire retardant from a plane. The threat level was dropped three notches to “Very High” on Wednesday for the city as temperatures fell and strong winds dissipated.

More than 70 fires were still burning Wednesday across New South Wales, the nation’s most populous state, where about 200 homes have been destroyed in the past few days. While conditions are expected to ease in the state, they could worsen in neighboring Queensland, where more than 60 fires were burning.

Actor Russell Crowe’s property at Nana Glen, just inland from Coffs Harbour on the north coast of New South Wales, suffered damage, he said in a tweet. Residents on the north shore of the Queensland coastal resort of Noosa were told to evacuate as a dangerous bushfire bore down on the area.

Three people have been killed in the outbreaks -- a disastrously early start to the nation’s bushfire season considering summer has not even begun.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edward Johnson at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net, Peter Vercoe

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