Fire scorches Siding Spring Observatory in Australia
Scientists evacuated from one of the world's leading astrophysics centres
Australia's top research observatory, which houses telescopes used by scientists from around the world, was damaged by a large bush fire yesterday as hot weather and storms stoked dozens of new blazes.
The Rural Fire Service of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, issued an emergency warning for an uncontrollable fire that scorched the Siding Spring Observatory, a remote global research facility near the town of Coonabarabran.
The service described the blaze as "a large and dangerous bush fire".
It said two nearby properties had been destroyed and part of the observatory was damaged by fire. The extent of the damage was unclear, but all observatory staff were safely evacuated.
Siding Spring, a mountaintop site in the Warrumbungle Ranges about 500 kilometres northwest of Sydney, houses 10 operating telescopes run by Australian, Polish, British, Korean and American researchers.
Administered by the Australian National University's research school of astronomy and astrophysics, Siding Spring is the nation's major optical and infrared observatory and one of the top facilities of its kind in the world.
Crews were battling difficult conditions, with temperatures in the area above 40 degrees Celsius and hot northwesterly gusts of about 60km/h.
