A scorching heat wave yesterday intensified bushfires ravaging parts of Australia and out-of-control blazes surrounding Sydney worsened under “catastrophic” conditions.
Australia’s eastern coast has been hit by a record-breaking heat wave, which has moved in from the west of the country, fanning hundreds of fires in its path.
Sydney was shrouded in toxic smoke as blazes flared to its north, south and west, some just 130km from Australia’s largest city.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Today has been an awful day,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said in the afternoon.
Temperatures were expected to peak at 47°C in parts of the state — the country’s most populous — including in parts of west Sydney.
Australia endures bushfires every year, but the early and intense start to this season, along with the record temperatures, has fueled concerns about global warming.
The fires have torched at least 3 million hectares of land — an area equivalent to the size of Belgium — with at least 10 people killed and more than 800 homes destroyed.
Two massive blazes south of Sydney generated their own thunderstorms, with a “mega fire” burning to the north also threatening the dangerous phenomena, authorities said.
A fire-generated thunderstorm can occur when a smoke plume is cooled as it meets pressure in the atmosphere, creating a cloud capable of producing its own lightning and powerful winds.
About 3,000 firefighters across the state were bracing for a wind change in the afternoon, expected to bring “dangerous and difficult, volatile conditions,” Fitzsimmons said.
“We will not get on top of these fires until we get some decent rain,” he said of the outlook.
“We are seeing a relentless pattern of hot, dry air dominating the weather features at the moment,” he added.
Evacuations were being carried out in the town of Bargo, on the front of a 185,000-hectare blaze that tore through the nearby area on Thursday.
“It’s horrific, it’s devastating driving around. We feel pretty isolated where we are with the roadblocks. Loved ones can’t come and see us,” Bargo resident Corey Cartes told reporters.
Cartes was told to leave two days ago, but has stayed behind to defend his property.
“Everyone is offering to help, but there is nothing they can do. Not for us now, just stay out and stay safe, and we hope the [firefighters] can do their job,” he said.
In South Australia, which in the past few days has borne the brunt of the heat wave, more than 1,500 firefighters have been battling fires that ripped through more than 40,000 hectares in the state.
Two people died in fires there over the past two days, while dozens of firefighters and residents have been treated for injuries and smoke inhalation.
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