The heatwave also stranded thousands of commuters, with dozens of trains delayed as steel wires buckled and a hose used to run a key signaling system melted. On the central coast, the heat caused an overhead wire to buckle onto a train at about 1.30pm, trapping about 250 passengers for half an hour. The monorail ground to a halt, spitting sparks that started a soon-extinguished grass fire next to Darling Harbour. More serious fires raged across NSW and Victoria, including about a dozen blazes that burned out of control in coastal regions of NSW from the Hunter Valley to the south coast. In Victoria a man's body was found in a burnt-out car in the town of Seaton in Gippsland. The victim, who is yet to be identified, was the first victim of the bushfires this summer. The conditions in NSW were hellish, firefighters said. "This has made for very difficult conditions and there are a lot of very active fires.
