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Scott faces early test with fire emergency

Liberal MP-elect Fiona Scott is urging residents in her new electorate of Lindsay in western Sydney to remain alert as bushfires rage in the area.

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Source: AAP


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It's her first week on the job, but already the newly-minted MP Fiona Scott is preparing to brief the prime minister about a bushfire emergency unfolding in her electorate.

Ms Scott on Tuesday urged her new constituents to follow the advice of their local emergency crews as fires raged throughout her western Sydney seat of Lindsay.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling numerous blazes across NSW, with the worst located in and around Castlereagh in Ms Scott's electorate.

The Liberal MP-elect said she'd spoken with local residents who were concerned by the plumes of smokes covering the area and fires near their properties.

The electorate in the foothills of the Blue Mountains is semi-rural and susceptible to bushfire outbreaks, she added.

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"People out in our part of western Sydney are quite acutely aware of bushfire danger," she told ABC News 24 on Tuesday.

The statewide emergency could prove an early test not just for Ms Scott but Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott, a volunteer with the Rural Fire Service.

Ms Scott said she would speak with Mr Abbott later on Tuesday and ensure he was up to speed on the latest developments in the region.

"Ironically, it's actually some of his teams from his Warringah bushfire brigade are actually here helping us today," she said.

"The plan here will be making sure... he is aware of the situation on the ground here in Lindsay and the Penrith region."

Ms Scott - praised during the election campaign by Tony Abbott for having "sex appeal" - claimed the coalition one of their biggest scalps when she defeated Labor minister David Bradbury on Saturday.


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