With a time scale of 6 minutes per second, this amazing footage shows how quickly fire swept through the Warrumbungles forest on Jan 13 2013. VISION: Mopra radio telescope (operated by CSIRO) and the Siding Springs Observatory (AAO)
A picture taken from Coonabarabran shows the size of the blaze. Picture: Twitter user Paul Dutton. Source: The Daily Telegraph
MORE than 30 homes have now been destroyed by a bushfire that is still raging out of control in the state's north.
The bushfire has burnt through 40,000 hectares and has a perimeter of more than 100 kilometres.
The Rural Fire Service (RFS) said in a tweet that "33 homes and 50+ sheds now confirmed as lost in the Wambelong Fire near Coonabarabran".
One building at the Siding Spring Observatory had also been destroyed, but the main telescope has survived.
"This is a large and dangerous bushfire,'' the RFS said on its website on Monday morning.
"The fire is burning in a northerly direction away from Timor Road and the Siding Spring Observatory and is currently approximately 1km south of Bugaldie.''
More than 65 firefighters and 17 trucks were on site in the early hours, with more expected to arrive throughout the day.
Meanwhile, more than than 110 people have been evacuated to Tattersalls Hotel at nearby Baradine, as the RFS warns people not to return home.
RFS spokeswoman Laura Ryansaid aerial photographs taken of the Siding Spring Observatory at first light on Monday showed the main telescope had survived; however, it was not yet known if it had been damaged.
Firefighters are hoping to assess what damage a bushfire has had on an observatory in northern NSW.
The pictures show the charred remains of bush surrounding the observatory and one of the buildings on the site had been completely destroyed.
Eighteen staff from the observatory were evacuated on Sunday to nearby Coonabarabran, and a watch and act remains in place for the fire, which has burned through more than 32,000 hectares of bush, scrub and grass.
Springs Observatory, is our top research observatory and home to the SkyMapper telescope was damaged by an out-of-control bushfire yesterday.
A photo taken by US astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield aboard the International Space Station shows smoke clouds from bushfires across Australia. Picture: Chris Hadfield/Twitter Source: Supplied
RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said the fire moved through the park at "phenomenal speed'' on Sunday and was one of "the most frightening fires I think we have had all summer''.
"The smoke plume extended to 14 kilometres,'' he said.
"The fire ... was of such magnitude that there was no way of knowing that anything was going to stop that fire.''
He said it moved rapidly with ember showers sparking fires five kilometres ahead.
"To have firefighters trying to battle that blaze would have literally been a suicide mission.''
The emergency at Wambelong Camping Area has seen Mt Woorut residents and staff from the Siding Spring Observatory in Warrumbungle National Park evacuated to nearby Coonabarabran.
Firefighters' efforts to contain the blaze were being hampered by strong south-westerly winds in the area, an RFS spokesman told AAP on Sunday night.
"The wind conditions that are being experienced there are creating erratic fire behaviour for crews on the ground," the spokesman said.
Fire crews will assess the two properties destroyed on Timor Rd and the observatory damage on Monday morning, he said.
There are hopes that telescopes in the Siding Spring Observatory - the nation's top optical and infrared observatory - will survive the inferno thanks to a range of precautions including the use of special paint.
Dr Amanda Bauer, who works at the observatory, said she was "hopeful" the telescopes would survive the bushfire.
"Tomorrow we will see how well those protections held," she wrote on her blog on Sunday evening.
Helicopters attempt to control fires in New South Wales after lightning sets more areas ablaze. Lindsey Parietti reports.
However, Nobel Prize-winning Professor Brian Schmidt, who also works at the observatory, said initial reports indicated the fire had caused a lot of damage.
"Fires are worse than I had feared ... bad day tomorrow," he wrote on Twitter.
The other emergency fire burning out of control on Sunday evening was centred on Bundabarina, about 10 kilometres west of Collarenabri on the Walgett Road.
Collarenabri residents have been advised to seek shelter and follow their bushfire survival plans, the RFS said.
Firefighters have issued watch and act warnings for two other fires. These are at Nangar Road in Eugowra, in the state's central west, and Rocky Glen Road in Bendemeer, in the New England area.
Meanwhile, a cool change has brought relief to RFS officers fighting fires in other areas.
More than 190 firefighters were working to contain a blaze 12km west of Sussex Inlet, near Shoalhaven on the south coast.
The fire has burnt more than 8400 hectares but there is no immediate threat to properties.
At Yarrabin, near Cooma, in the Snowy Mountains, more than 100 firefighters continue to establish containment lines and extinguish spot fires, with no threat to properties.
The fire has burnt through more than 12,000 hectares of bushland and is moving away from Cooma to the east.
Residents returning to properties have been warned to be aware of falling trees and branches, particularly in the Mt Forest Road area.
In the southern tablelands, more than 70 firefighters are working on containment lines around a fire near Yass. The blaze has been contained.
In the state's north about 20 fires are burning uncontained after lightning storms on Saturday night ignited 45 new fires.
So far the fires have scorched more than 500,000 hectares of bush, scrub and grass - - the equivalent of the entire greater Sydney basin, Ms Ryan said.
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