Rural Fire Service says haze in Sydney and central coast is from ‘fires up towards the Port Macquarie region’

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

An emergency warning has been issued for a bushfire burning out of control near Port Macquarie in northern New South Wales, with the related smoke haze drifting as far south as Sydney.

On Tuesday, the fire was burning in the area of Lake Innes and Lake Cathie, south of Port Macquarie, and had scorched 1,200 hectares.

“The fire has breached containment lines and is moving quickly in a southerly direction,” the NSW Rural Fire Service said on Tuesday at 2.30pm.

“Strong north-easterly winds are blowing smoke and embers well ahead of the main fire creating numerous spot fires. Spot fires have started to the west of Lake Cathie village and in the area of Lake Innes nature reserve.”

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Residents in Lake Cathie, Long Point and Bonny Hills were told to watch for burning embers.

“If the fire threatens your location, seek shelter immediately to protect yourself from the heat of the fire,” the RFS said.

Residents in Kew, Kendall and Herons Creek were warned to monitor conditions.

Insp Ben Shepherd said north-easterly winds had strengthened on Tuesday morning.

“So we have sent emergency alert text messages to homes in the area,” he told 2GB radio. “We are expecting those winds to maintain very strong strength across the course of the day so there may be further areas that come under threat later on.”

Shepherd said wind gusts of 60km/h could throw embers well ahead of the firefront.

“The risk is people might jump on the road [because] it looks clear, [then] a spot fire develops and it then starts to impact on the road,” he said.

The RFS said a smoke haze over Sydney and the central coast was from “fires up towards the Port Macquarie region”.

“Most of the smoke is drifting down under very strong north-northeasterly winds,” he said. “The winds are particularly strong and will continue throughout the afternoon so we are likely to see the smoke hanging around Sydney for some time.”

Watch and act alerts were issued for bushfires at Cooperabung, north-west of Port Macquarie, Crowdy Bay national park near Taree, and Shannon Vale near Glen Innes.

There were no total fire bans in place for Tuesday but there was a very high fire danger in the north-western and northern slopes areas.

In Tasmania, the bushfire threat for a small east coast town eased on Tuesday, as authorities fought a number of blazes across the state.

The fire alert for residents at Scamander was downgraded on Tuesday afternoon to advice level.

But several other fires sparked or reignited on Tuesday in dry, windy conditions. which prompted a fire ban for the south until 2am on Wednesday.

Water-bombing aircraft were sent to battle fires near Oatlands and New Norfolk, but neither fires was posing a risk to properties.