A bushfire burning in Sydney’s west is threatening homes as extreme heat and dangerous winds fan fires across the state.
The fire is burning close to homes in Whitehaven Road. Crews from Fire and Rescue NSW and NSW RFS are on scene.
NSW Rural Fire Service crews have been battling more than 100 fires between the Victorian and Queensland borders in the last 48 hours.
“It’s certainly the worst day for fire risk since last fire season,” NSW RFS Commissioner Rob Rogers told Today.
There are more than 38 fires currently burning around the state.
“At the moment we’re using overwhelming force so every time we get a call about a fire starting we’re sending everything we can to make sure we limit the spread of these fires,” Mr Rogers said.
Increased fuel loads due to significant grass growth are presenting a new risk for crews battling fires across NSW.
“Because they have that drought-breaking rain, there’s been significant growth in those areas,” Mr Rogers said.
“That’s really higher risk in the grassland than we’ve seen in probably five years or so.
“Under these conditions, the grass fire takes hold, under the worst of these wind conditions it will move frighteningly fast and be extremely dangerous.”
A severe fire danger warning is in place for the Far North Coast, North Coast, Greater Hunter, Greater Sydney Region and North Western region.
There is also a very high fire danger for Illawarra, Shoalhaven, Central Ranges, New England and Northern Slopes.
“It will be a really long day for people and firefighters. We’ve already seen a number of fires pop up today,” Mr Rogers said.
Most National Parks throughout NSW have closed their tracks and trails as an extra safety precaution.
Five towns in NSW and one Sydney suburb surpassed their November maximum including right here at Sydney Olympic Park which reached 41.5 degrees.
Crews in Queensland are focusing on stopping a fire burning on Fraser Island from encroaching on two major tourist destinations.
The fire has already burnt through 74,000 hectares of lands and crews are concerned today’s weather could cause the blaze to jump containment lines.
“With today’s higher temperatures and stronger northerly winds, that will really test those containment lines,” QFES Superintendent John Pappas said.
About 5km south of the fire is the King Fisher Bay Resort where crews have warned people to prepare.
“We put additional fire fighting crews into the resort and also into the Happy Valley township to protect those assets in the event that fire goes for a run under those stronger winds today,” Mr Pappas said.
The fire was sparked six weeks ago however heatwave conditions over the last 48 hours have caused the blaze to strengthen significantly.
Emergency crews are warning high fire-fighting conditions are only expected to continue across the state as temperatures soar.
Areas around Queensland are expected to surpass he 40C mark with Ipswich forecast nudge 48C today.
The west of the state that will bear the brunt of the heatwave with Birdsville expected to hit 46C and emergency crews are warning that this is only going to get worst throughout the week.
Approximately 40 fires are currently burning across Queensland.