Rain douses Australia’s raging bush fires

Weary firefighters sang and danced today after heavy rain doused many bush fires that had burned out of control across Australia’s most populous state for two weeks.

Up to two inches of rain fell overnight, mainly in the Blue Mountains national park, 50 miles west of Sydney. Officials said the blazes had been reduced to smouldering embers.

Firefighters cheered and splashed about in puddles when the showers arrived.

‘‘This rain is a godsend,’’ said Joff Medder, a firefighter who travelled hundreds of miles from South Australia state to help in the crisis.

Up to 20,000 men and women, many of them unpaid volunteers, have been battling as many as 100 fires across New South Wales since Christmas Eve. Officials said firefighters from other states would soon return home.

‘‘The rain has brought considerable relief to the fire-fighting effort,’’ said fire chief Phil Koperberg. ‘‘The task of mopping up by literally hundreds of firefighters will go on for many days yet.’’

But other officials said downpours had not hit all fire-affected areas and that the crisis - which has destroyed 170 homes and led to thousands of evacuations - was not over.

No rain fell on a huge fire burning in the Shoalhaven area, 120 miles south of Sydney.

‘‘There’s a long way to go yet, but certainly there’s no more welcome sound to a firefighter than raindrops on a roof,’’ said John Winter, Rural Fire Services spokesman.

Weather forecasters said the showers broke an 18-day dry spell. They warned, though, that high temperatures approaching 38C (100 F) could return later today, bringing dry outback winds that could rekindle fires.