1994 Eastern seaboard fires were bushfires in New South Wales , Australia between August 1993 and 16 January 1994 were widespread along the NSW coast from Bega to the Queensland border and inland as far as Bathurst . Also Over 80 separate fires encouraged by extreme hot dry and windy conditions threatened many areas including the major cities of Newcastle and Sydney . The fires killed four people and burnt out over . The fires across the state destroyed 225 homes in total - 101 of which were in the southern Sydney suburbs of Jannali and Como West , where Como West Public School was also destroyed , in January 1994 . 13 houses were destroyed in suburbs around Lane Cove National Park and 42 were destroyed around Kuringai National Park , Garigal National Park and the Royal National Park , 9 houses including a Youth hostel were destroyed in Hawkesbury Heights in the Blue Mountains . These fires generated a large amount of media coverage internationally . Unlike earlier fires -- several of which caused much more damage -- the 1994 bushfires entered a major city , as the later Black Christmas and 2003 Canberra bushfires would . Additionally , this was the only occasion in which a major city , Sydney , had been threatened with total isolation due to fire . At the peak of the fires only the Hume Highway to the southwest remained open . All other road and rail routes out of Sydney were closed . Residents of the entire metropolitan area of Sydney had to contend with ash raining down on them , and the sky remained a blazing orange colour for days afterwards
2003 Canberra bushfires
2003 Canberra bushfires
1994 Eastern seaboard fires