Exhausted fire crews were called away from protecting homes and properties to deal with a tanker fire on Appin Road believed to have been deliberately lit.
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At 3.30am Saturday morning, in the darkness of a predicted catastrophic weather event, a Kenworth prime mover was well alight just 15 kilometres south of Cambelltown and only 400 metres from the Appin Village itself.
To the west, Tahmoor and Bargo have burned over the past 48 hours and the vast rural landscape of Pheasants Nest is in the line of fire.
Warnings from the Rural Fire Service are dire for Pheasants Nest residents and, if a westerly wind gets momentum, there will be no stopping a blaze.
Bargo and Pheasants Nest residents have sought shelter at the Appin greyhound track and 42 greyhounds are now housed at the disused racing venue while the emergency evolves.
"The Bulli Club was just fantastic," said one greyhound breeder who housed 30 pups and retirees at the Slacky Flat circuit on Thursday and Friday.
"They said we could stay as long as we wanted but they race there on Saturday and a Foragers Market is there on Sunday and we did not was to be an impediment.
"Next stop was Appin and, then, in the middle of the night, the truck is torched.
"We went from the frying pan into the fire in a heartbeat."
Whether police have any forensic evidence regarding the Kenworth trusk's destruction remains to be seen but a local resident did take photos of men in their early 20's carrying a baseball bat and being 'loud' in the early hours of the morning.
Another witness considered a plume of smoke was coming from the fuel tank area of the tuck when he left the greyhound track some hours earlier.
Campbelltown police have confirmed they are investigating the the fire, which is being treated as suspicious. Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
