How the killer fires changed life in Sydney

By Jason Szep

SYDNEY, Jan 10 (Reuters) - There are ashes in the bathtub and the summer air smells faintly of burning timber.

There are frequent radio appeals to use less water. Everyone is praying for cooler weather and rain. Lots of rain.

Suddenly, life in Sydney is very different.

From the downtown Opera House and famous Bondi Beach in the south to shopping malls in the west and swank cafes in the north, one word is on nearly everyone's lips: fire.

"Everyone is talking about the bushfires. It's touched the city people even though the fires are in the suburbs," said Marty Nezval, 25, a lifeguard at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

Ashes littered Bondi's usually white sand on Monday, washed up from the surf.

A light rain, which gave firefighters a slight reprieve, was welcomed by beachgoers who typically loathe even the faintest sign of showers.

"It's the peak of the holiday season but everyone is happy it's raining," Nezval said.

The fires have killed four people, destroyed 190 houses and forced tens of thousands to evacuate their homes, mainly in Sydney's heavily wooded northern and southern suburbs.

Sydneysiders have never experienced anything like it.

Officials say the fires never really threatened downtown Sydney, which is protected by its harbor.

But life in central Sydney was far from usual. Even those safely away from the flames have been haunted by television reports of fireballs tearing through forests and threatening neighborhoods as close as six km (four miles) away.

"We've been watching it on TV and feel pretty sad for those who lost their homes," said Vicky Olshansky, 21, a saleswoman at clothing store in the trendy Paddington area of downtown Sydney.

Ashes have formed a layer of dust on most inner-city homes, wafting indoors into rooms and hallways in some houses. Outdoor swimming pools are filthy with the fallout from the fires.

Sam Ghaida, 41, a Sydney taxidriver, said nearly everyone he's driven on Monday has had something to say on the fires.

"Everybody has a point of view on it. It'll be remembered," he said. "But there's birth. There's death. There's fire. That's nature. You have to live with it. Life goes on."

Bewildered tourists, after at first wondering if their sunny Sydney vacations would be cut short by the fires, have grown used to the daily reports detailing the whereabouts of the firestorms and are scrambling to find good views of the smoke.

"We've been taking a lot of tourists to Watson's Bay for a view of the smoke," said Steve Hardy, a bus driver with Sydney Transit, referring to a promontory overlooking the harbor.

"It's all too quiet here. We were looking for the fires but didn't see any," said Jutta Vandalwath, 57, from Switzerland.

Jo Slater, a 22-year old student from London staying with a friend in southern Sydney, said she had feared her passport might have gone up in flames when the fires began leveling homes in some south Sydney suburbs.

"I didn't expect this," she said.

But tourism officials only reported minor cancellations of travel to Sydney and said the Sydney Tourism Commission's offshore offices were busy reassuring travelers that downtown Sydney was not on fire and was still safe for vacations.

The smoke and fumes from burning timber weren't the only tell-tale signs for people in suburbs close to the fires, such as Robert Clancy, 28, manager of Chadds Coffee Lounge in Chatswood near Saturday's fires in Sydney's north.

"There are just a lot fewer people around here," he said, noting most people were probably at home or helping friends repair damaged property.

"But every other table is still talking about it. Directly or indirectly, everyone has been affected, one way or another."

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