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Three fires reported as bushfire season begins in Australia

At least two homes were razed and firefighters backed by water-dumping helicopters battled to save scores of others from blazes yesterday near Australia's largest city.

Three big fires broke out yesterday -- the first day of the official bushfire season -- as hot and blustery conditions combined with forest lands left tinder-dry by Australia's worst-ever drought to raise the danger.

At Tilligerry passage area near Port Stephens, about 200km north of Sydney, a fire covering about 150 hectares razed two houses and several sheds, New South Wales state Rural Fire Service officials said. No injuries were reported.

More than 100 firefighters backed by three helicopters were working on the fire and saved more than 50 other homes, local commander Jason McKeller told ABC.

About 60 campers were moved out of a popular spot in the Ku-ring-gai National Park north of Sydney where another fire was raging in forest land, said Murray Hillan, another fire service official.

A third fire in the Royal National Park south of Sydney was brought under control yesterday after several hours.

Hillan said recent rains may have lulled people into a false sense of security about the risk of fires, which are a regular feature of Australia's summer months, burning thousands of hectares of forests and sometimes blasting into towns and cities with deadly results.

Australia's fire season usually runs until January, as electrical storms and blustery conditions become a feature in the country's southeast.

Downed power cables, discarded cigarettes butts and lightning strikes are more often the causes of such fires than arson, though investigators say a worrying number of fires are deliberately lit.

Officials warned drought that has hit much of Australia in recent years is making conditions for wild fires worse.

In 2003, hundreds of houses were destroyed and four people killed when a huge blaze tore into the national capital, Canberra. In early 2005, nine people died in fires in South Australia state.
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