Catastrophic fire warning for NSW

Catastrophic fire warning for NSW

18 November 2009

published by www.watoday.com.au


Australia– A catastrophic fire warning has been declared in NSW for the first time, as the state braces for more scorching heat on Friday.

Rural Fire Service (RFS) commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the Lower Central West Plains, Southern Riverina, Northern Riverina, South Western and Far Western areas will experience a catastrophic fire danger on Friday.

Total fire bans have also been declared for much of the state until midnight on Friday, with temperatures expected to soar past 40 degrees in most areas.

“Under these conditions any fire that starts and takes hold will typically be uncontrollable, unpredictable and fast moving,” Mr Fitzsimmons said in a statement.

“Embers will be blown ahead of the fire, creating spot fires that will move quickly and may threaten your home earlier than the predicted main fire front.”

He said the safest option for people living in a bushfire prone area under catastrophic rating is to leave early.

“This is not a call for alarm or panic,” he said.

“Simply, if you live in these areas, plan activities away from a bushfire prone area, such as going to a friends house, a shopping centre or into town.”

The new national fire ratings system now has a top level warning of “catastrophic”, with the change made in response to Victoria’s Black Saturday bushfire tragedy.

A catastrophic warning urges residents in bushfire-prone areas to leave early because of a real likelihood of loss of life and property.

Five major fires are burning in NSW as the state swelters through a heatwave expected to last well into the weekend.

Two were causing real concern in northwest NSW, the Rural Fire Service (RFS) said.

A fire at Thunderbolts Way, near Inverell, which started on Tuesday, has burned out more than 2,600 hectares.

Another, at Sawn Rocks, northeast of Narrabri, also alight since Tuesday, had blackened more than 270 hectares.

Fire crews are meanwhile strengthening containment lines at a fire that has burned 850 hectares of scrub and bushland at the Pilliga, in Kerringle State Forest, 60km south of Narrabri.

Crews are also mopping up and strengthening containment lines at Mount Canobolas, in the central west, where a fire has blackened about 60 hectares of land.

A fire 10km north east of Torrington, in northern NSW, was also keeping firefighters busy.

Comm Fitzsimmons warned it would be a difficult fire season, with “no favourable outlook for any meaningful rainfall”.

“Ninety-five per cent of NSW is either officially drought declared or drought-affected … so when fires do start, they burn quickly and spread rapidly and containment is very difficult,” he told reporters on Thursday.

NSW Emergency Services Minister Steve Whan urged employers to make RFS volunteer employees available when needed.

“I would encourage them over the next few days, and indeed over the coming summer to continue their willingness to let those employees go to help with fires when they are called because that is critical for us all and our community,” he said.

At 3.45pm (AEDT) on Thursday, the mercury soared to 39.1 degrees Celsius at Penrith in western Sydney.

Bourke, in western NSW, recorded a high of 45.5 degrees.

Health authorities are warning people to stay indoors if possible, avoid alcoholic and caffeinated drinks and to check on children and the elderly during the heatwave.

At least two elderly people, a man and a woman in their 70s, were treated for a heat-related illness, a NSW ambulance spokeswoman told AAP.

NSW Health says people should carry water with them, limit physical activity, and keep out of the sun in the hottest part of the day.


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