Firies had to search for water: inquest

It remains uncertain if a discarded cigarette was the cause of a blaze that damaged more than 100 cars at Sydney's Olympic Park, an inquest has found.

There were extreme conditions on Sunday, October 13, 2013, with a total fire ban in effect in the Greater Sydney area, the NSW Coroner's Court at Glebe heard on Monday.

When a fire broke out about 3pm at the P2 car park at Sydney's Olympic Park it was hot, dry and windy.

Fire & Rescue investigator Robert Jansen believes a discarded cigarette may have caused the fire, not a hot car exhaust pipe.

But the inquest has been unable to find that a cigarette did cause the fire because no evidence was found at the scene.

However, there is little doubt that the fire started near the rear of a Holden Commodore, which overhung the garden strip.

It then spread to other cars parked in the staff car park.

The inquest found that firefighters spent up to 10 minutes searching for water, as there were no clear signs indicating the location of hydrants.

The Aquatic Centre was evacuated just before 3.30pm.

At the time it was reported that about 500 people had to be removed.

There were no casualties but 47 cars were destroyed and 105 vehicles damaged in the blaze.

Since then improvements have been made, including that fire hydrants in the park have been clearly identified with signage as well as signage to the location of the hydrants.

It was also suggested by Deputy State Coroner Helen Barry that an irrigation system for garden beds could be installed.