The Telegraph :
A state of emergency was declared in Australia’s most populated region on Thursday, as the country saw its all-time temperature record broken again.
About 100 fires have been burning for weeks in drought-plagued New South Wales (NSW) with half of them uncontained, including a “mega-blaze” ringing Sydney, covering Australia’s biggest city in a haze of toxic smoke.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the seven-day state of emergency, the second declared in the state since the bushfire season began early in September, was due to “catastrophic weather conditions”.
Temperatures are expected to near 50 degrees celsius in South Australia and peak at 45 degrees in the western suburbs of Sydney, while turbulent winds of up to 60 miles an hour are expected to fan bushfires burning ever-closer to the city.
Australia set a record for its hottest day ever for a second straight day, with an average national temperature of 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 Fahrenheit), a full degree higher than the previous mark, officials said on Thursday.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the new nationally averaged maximum was reached on Wednesday, topping the 40.9 degrees hit on Tuesday, which beat the previous record of 40.3 C in January 2013.
“The firefront has been spreading very quickly and intensely,” NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told
reporters in Sydney, adding that two firefighters had been airlifted to hospital with burns to their faces and airways. “It’s still a very difficult and dangerous set of circumstances.”
The RFS posted footage on its official Twitter account showing firefighters tackling one of the three blazes ringing Sydney. A waterbomber aircraft was dwarfed by thick grey and black billowing cloud as it attempted to douse flames in bushland just metres away from homes.
The heatwave is another alarm bell about global warming in Australia, where this year’s early and intense start to summer bushfires has heaped pressure on the government to do more to tackle climate change.
A state of emergency was declared in Australia’s most populated region on Thursday, as the country saw its all-time temperature record broken again.
About 100 fires have been burning for weeks in drought-plagued New South Wales (NSW) with half of them uncontained, including a “mega-blaze” ringing Sydney, covering Australia’s biggest city in a haze of toxic smoke.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the seven-day state of emergency, the second declared in the state since the bushfire season began early in September, was due to “catastrophic weather conditions”.
Temperatures are expected to near 50 degrees celsius in South Australia and peak at 45 degrees in the western suburbs of Sydney, while turbulent winds of up to 60 miles an hour are expected to fan bushfires burning ever-closer to the city.
Australia set a record for its hottest day ever for a second straight day, with an average national temperature of 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 Fahrenheit), a full degree higher than the previous mark, officials said on Thursday.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the new nationally averaged maximum was reached on Wednesday, topping the 40.9 degrees hit on Tuesday, which beat the previous record of 40.3 C in January 2013.
“The firefront has been spreading very quickly and intensely,” NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told
reporters in Sydney, adding that two firefighters had been airlifted to hospital with burns to their faces and airways. “It’s still a very difficult and dangerous set of circumstances.”
The RFS posted footage on its official Twitter account showing firefighters tackling one of the three blazes ringing Sydney. A waterbomber aircraft was dwarfed by thick grey and black billowing cloud as it attempted to douse flames in bushland just metres away from homes.
The heatwave is another alarm bell about global warming in Australia, where this year’s early and intense start to summer bushfires has heaped pressure on the government to do more to tackle climate change.
