NSW heatwave: Unprecedented fire conditions are 'as bad as it gets'
Date: February 11 2017
Eryk Bagshaw, Megan Levy, Peter Hannam
NSW is facing the "worst possible fire conditions" in its history with a "catastrophic" warning in place across large slabs of the state after a heatwave smashed temperature records on Saturday.
Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the situation was as "bad as it gets" and warned it was set to get worse on Sunday when winds are expected to sweep through scorched parts of mid to northern NSW.
"To put it simply [the conditions] are off the old scale," he said. "It is without precedent in NSW".
Commissioner Fitzsimmons said "catastrophic" fire ratings had been issued only once before in NSW - in 2013 - since national standardised ratings were introduced in 2009. Sunday's catastrophic fire rating will stretch from Dubbo to Coonabarabran to Port Stephens, affecting the Central Ranges, North Western NSW and the Greater Hunter.
"This is an area three to five times larger than January 2013," he said, when more than 140 fires burned across the state.
"[Any fire] will consume whatever is in its path."
On Saturday afternoon, the RFS said 49 bushfires or grassfires were already burning across NSW, 17 of which were not contained but no loss of life or property had been recorded.
Commissioner Fitzsimmons said conditions in some parts of NSW could be worse than Victoria's Black Saturday fires, Australia's worst ever fire disaster which claimed 173 lives in 2009.
"The forecast indices [for Sunday] are greater than those faced by Victoria at the time," he said.
Sunday will be the second day in a row of state-wide total fire ban.
He warned residents to prepare themselves. "We can't guarantee that a warning or telephone message will occur for everyone that comes under threat tomorrow," he said. Text message warnings were being sent to residents in the Hunter Valley region on Saturday night.
Fighting the fires has been made more challenging by the large build up of flammable materials across the state after healthy rains last year.
The enormous hot air mass hovering over NSW had had "a baking effect" on vegetation, according to the RFS.
As firefighters geared up for another sweltering 24 hours, temperature records continued to tumble on Saturday, putting a strain on hospitals for treatments for heat-related conditions.
Sydney's west recorded its hottest ever day, hitting 46.9 degrees at Penrith, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, eclipsing its previous hottest of 46.5 degrees in January 2013, while Richmond touched the 47 degree mark.
On the coast, Saturday's top of 36.1 degrees made it a record 11th day above 35 in Sydney this summer, while in the state's west, the small township of Ivanhoe, population 200, reached a stifling maximum of 47.6 degrees; the second hottest February temperature ever recorded in NSW.
On Saturday morning, White Cliffs broke the 102-year-old record for highest minimum in NSW, 34.2 degrees at 7am.
Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers offered a blunt message to those considering visiting fire-prone areas: don't go.
"Go to the beach instead, do something else, particularly those people who may be thinking about camping. Plan it for another time," he said.
NSW Emergency Services Minister Troy Grant echoed Commissioner Rogers concerns.
"Where you can, please seek refuge," he said.
Commissioner Rogers said firefighters were expecting a particularly tough five-hour period on Sunday, before a southerly change swept through on Sunday evening and into Monday morning.
For Sydneysiders little relief is in sight over the next week, with three days now forecast to hit the 30s.