A state of emergency was declared in Australia’s most populated region yesterday, as a record heat wave fanned unprecedented bushfires.
About 100 fires have been burning for weeks in drought-plagued New South Wales, with half of them uncontained, including a “mega-blaze” ringing Sydney, covering Australia’s biggest city in a haze of toxic smoke.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the seven-day state of emergency was due to “catastrophic weather conditions.”
Temperatures are expected to near 50°C in South Australia and peak at 45°C in the western suburbs of Sydney, while turbulent winds of up to 100km are expected to fan bushfires burning ever-closer to the city.
The country experienced its hottest day on record on Tuesday, with the average nationwide temperatures reaching 40.9°C, which is expected to be surpassed as an intensifying heat wave spreads across the country.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said five 100-person “strike teams” were on standby to deploy to the most dangerous fires.
In Buxton, about 100 km southwest of Sydney, longtime resident Paul Collins said a nearby bushfire that had destroyed properties was “much worse” than in past years.
“It’s spread faster with the wind, and the bush and the ground is just so dry,” he said to reporters, blaming climate change and the drought for the worsening fires.
The fires have sparked climate protests targeting the conservative government, which has resisted pressure to address the root causes of global warming to protect the nation’s lucrative coal export industry.
The extreme weather is causing major health concerns, with leading doctors this week labeling the smoke haze that has shrouded Sydney for weeks a “public health emergency.”
Hospitals have been recording large increases in emergency room visits for respiratory problems, including a dramatic 80 percent spike when air quality plummeted on Tuesday last week.
“We’re heading into a fifth or sixth day in a row where multiple places broke a record, and we’re likely to see 30 or 40 records around the country break,” Australian Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Dean Narramore said.
More than 70 fires are raging across Queensland to the north of New South Wales. Bushfires are also burning in Western Australia and South Australia.
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