New Zealand Local Weather Forum
Weather Discussion => International => Topic started by: Mark on October 18, 2013, 07:08:04 PM
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Terrifying images of homes on fire and smoke billowing across NSW’s skyline are emerging as firefighters battle up to seven massive bushfires across the state.
Hundreds of homes are feared destroyed and the NSW premier believes it will be a miracle if no lives are lost in the most grave bushfire crisis to hit the state in a decade.
While the extent of the devastation was unclear this morning, one of the worst-hit areas was Springwood, in the Blue Mountains, where up to 30 homes were known to be lost.
Smoke is also drifting across Sydney’s CBD, casting an eerie shadow over the city.
http://news.msn.co.nz/glanceview/358892/wildfires-ravage-new-south-wales.glance
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Firefighters battle on regardless of personal tragedies
5:30 AM Saturday Oct 19, 2013
Thousands of firefighters, some drafted in from other states, will continue attacking massive fronts in New South Wales in a battle that is likely to last for weeks.
With one man confirmed dead, seven people in hospital, as many as 200 homes lost and tens of thousands of hectares already razed in the state's worst fire emergency in a decade, even lower temperatures and milder winds gave little reprieve yesterday.
Temperatures are expected to climb again tomorrow, with almost 100 fires still burning - dozens still uncontained - continuing a nightmare that many expect will worsen in the coming summer.
Record temperatures have turned most of the eastern states into tinderboxes that have already erupted into many hundreds of fires through South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Queensland in a fire season that is only weeks old.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/australia/news/article.cfm?l_id=15&objectid=11142586 (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/australia/news/article.cfm?l_id=15&objectid=11142586)
Firefighters race to gain upper hand before conditions worsen as residents return to devastation, despair and grief.
FIREFIGHTERS are racing to get the upper hand on bushfires in the NSW Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Southern Highlands as calmer, cooler weather provides a window of opportunity.
But the danger is far from over, Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers says.
Mr Rogers described today's conditions as a "pause" but said worsening conditions lay ahead with higher temperatures and increasing winds forecast by Sunday.
As of 9am this morning, 83 fires were burning across the state including 19 uncontained blazes.
"We have more than 500km of fire perimeter at the moment ... we're by no means out of the woods," Mr Rogers told ABC radio. "It's just calmed down a little bit and obviously we're bracing ourselves for these worsening conditions."
West of the Blue Mountains the RFS is concerned about a fire in Lithgow which is burning over 28,000 hectares and could tear through the mountains if the wind changes direction.
More plus photos from the Daily Telegraph Australia.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/firefighters-race-to-gain-upper-hand-before-conditions-worsen-as-residents-return-to-devastation-despair-and-grief/story-fni0cx12-1226742811503 (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/firefighters-race-to-gain-upper-hand-before-conditions-worsen-as-residents-return-to-devastation-despair-and-grief/story-fni0cx12-1226742811503)
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Australian firefighters battling the worst fire disaster in nearly 50 years have successfully prevented spot fires from jumping a major road in the Blue Mountains overnight.
But they are now facing the prospect of stronger winds on Wednesday when conditions are expected to be their worst in New South Wales
NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons praised the "extraordinarily good work" of firefighters who prevented spot fires along several kilometres of the Bells Line of Road in the Blue Mountains from crossing to the southern side of the road overnight on Sunday.
If the fire jumps that road, firefighters fear it could merge with another large fire in the area to form one massive blaze.
But the good news was tempered by an updated weather forecast for Wednesday, which is expected to pose the most challenging conditions for firefighters.
The forecast for temperatures into the mid 30s, low humidity and high winds had already been assessed as much worse than predicted last week.
But on Monday morning, Fitzsimmons said that forecast had been updated overnight with worsening wind conditions.
More:
stuff.co.nz (http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/9306718/Australia-fire-forecast-worsens)
nzherald.co.nz (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/australia/news/article.cfm?l_id=15&objectid=11143411)
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Update:
- Firefighters are battling 60 fires, 18 of which are uncontained.
- All public, Catholic and Independent schools are closed in the Blue Mountains, along with a number of schools in Hawkesbury and the Southern Highlands. You can read the full list of closures here.
- Anyone without a reason to be in the Blue Mountains on Wednesday has been urged to leave before lunch.
- Conditions to be dry, with humidity dropping to 15 per cent, temperatures rising into the mid-30s and wind gusts accelerating to 100km/h.
- Boy, aged 14, charged with deliberately lighting a large fire near Newcastle.
- 11-year-old boy appears in court and is placed under house arrest on same charge.
( 14 and 11, where are these kids heads )
Live coverage is at news.com.au
http://www.news.com.au/national/live-coverage-of-the-new-south-wales-bushfires/story-fncynjr2-1226744347084 (http://www.news.com.au/national/live-coverage-of-the-new-south-wales-bushfires/story-fncynjr2-1226744347084)
1:43pm
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has accused a UN official who linked the New South Wales fires to climate change of "talking through her hat" on radio station 3AW.
and here is the link to this here:
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/clear-link-between-climate-change-and-bushfires-un-adviser-warns-tony-abbott-20131022-2vxs5.html (http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/clear-link-between-climate-change-and-bushfires-un-adviser-warns-tony-abbott-20131022-2vxs5.html)