Extreme heat fuels raging firestorm
THE horror bushfire season continued in NSW with three firefighters seriously injured yesterday while battling a blaze southwest of Sydney, while ash from fires ringing Sydney fell in the city centre.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a week-long state of emergency, hours before dozens of homes were feared lost. Some 2500 firefighters were still battling more than 100 blazes with half of them uncontained.
There were two emergency warnings current last night for the huge Gospers Mountain blaze northwest of Sydney and the Green Wattle Creek fire southwest of the city.
It’s feared more than 20 homes were lost in and around Bargo when the
Green Wattle Creek fire ripped through about midday yesterday.
NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said there were reports of “many structures and many buildings being impacted including some homes”. Three firefighters were treated for burns after their truck was overrun and enveloped by fire.
Two men — aged 36 and 56 — were flown to Concord Hospital with serious injuries while a 28-year-old woman was transported by road to Liverpool Hospital.
Resident Ray Hicks described the moment the firestorm hit. “It was horrific, just a red glow all around, and black, the wind was that horrific it just blew straight over the top of us,” he told the Seven Network.
The RFS said there were reports of 20 homes lost but as the Green Wattle Creek fire was still active exact figures would not be known “for a number of days”.
Alarmingly conditions are set to worsen tomorrow after some possible respite due to a southerly change that swept up the NSW coast last night lowering temperatures.
Earlier in the day, Sydney’s CBD reached a high of 39.3C while Sydney Airport and Penrith hit 42.5C.
Elsewhere, White Cliffs topped 47.1C, Mildura recorded 45.2C and Broken Hill and Wilcannia reached 45.1C.
Air quality was hazardous across Sydney and much of the state yesterday.
Bureau of Meteorology acting NSW manager Jane Golding said today would be cooler — with a top of 26C for Sydney — but the state will heat up again tomorrow.
Greenpeace remains concerned that bushfires are extremely close to the Springvale coalmine near Lithgow and the Tahmoor mine southwest of Sydney.
“Coal is extremely flammable, meaning any fires could likely burn for weeks, emitting toxic fumes which will aggravate the already dangerous levels of air pollution across NSW,” Greenpeace Australia’s research head Dr Nikola Casule said.