Wind gusts of up to 80km/h in NSW and temperatures 12C above average in Queensland predicted to fan fires

This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

Thousands of firefighters across New South Wales and Queensland have had another long night battling dozens of fires, with conditions on Friday expected to worsen.

NSW was told to expect wind gusts of 80km/h and high temperatures, and Queensland will likely see temperatures about 12C above average over the next two days, surpassing 40C in the Lockyer Valley and Ipswich.

On Thursday night NSW crews responded to five emergency level fires, including the Currowan fire on the south coast, where a number of buildings were believed to have been destroyed.

By Friday morning the blazes had all been downgraded, with six fires in the state at watch and act levels. Less than half of the 97 active fires were under control.

“I think the really difficult thing is the amount of fire people have seen since the beginning of August, how much fire we’ve had in the northern part of NSW – well, we’ve just replicated that in the central part of the state as well as still having the north going so it’s quite extraordinary conditions,” the Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner, Rob Rogers, told the ABC.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A plane flying over Sydney’s north shore amid smoke haze from bushfires blanketing the city on Thursday. Photograph: Jason Tsui/The Guardian

The 230,000-hectare Gospers Mountain blaze on Sydney’s north-western outskirts was the first fire to reach emergency level on Thursday and, as the day dragged on, there were fears the fire would merge with the 6,000-hectare Three Mile blaze near Wisemans Ferry, which had spread quickly to Mangrove Mountain late on Thursday night.

Gary Flynn from the Wisemans Inn Hotel said the small town was “dead quiet” as bushfires burned across the Hawkesbury River. “We are just copping all the smoke,” he said on Thursday. “We are just keeping an eye on things at the moment.”

Earlier in the day three firefighters were airlifted from the Green Wattle Creek fireground after they sustained minor injuries battling the blaze.

On Friday morning Queensland Fire and Emergency Services issued a watch and act warning for a large fire near Millmerran west of Toowoomba, which had blackened almost 1,200 hectares and was raging in the Western Creek state forest near Cypress Gardens and Forest Ridge.

Emergency crews were on alert amid concern that properties have been lost to a fast-moving bushfire on the Darling Downs.

Queensland’s south-east coast, Darling Downs and Granite Belt, and the Wide Bay and Burnett districts were under a severe fire conditions warning for Friday, with fire bans stretching up most of the state’s coastal and neighbouring regions.

The Bureau of Meteorology predicted showers and thunderstorms for the northern Wide Bay and Burnett area but warned the storms will potentially be severe and produce damaging wind gusts.

Almost the entire coastal area of NSW and much of the state’s north-east have a severe fire danger rating for Friday.

Total fire bans will be in place for the far south coast and the Monaro alpine, southern ranges, Illawarra-Shoalhaven, central ranges, greater Sydney, the greater Hunter, northern slopes and north-western regions.

Meanwhile, the longest period of air pollution on record in NSW is set to continue with the Bureau of Meteorology saying heavy smoke from the bushfires ringing Sydney will linger in the city basin until Saturday.

The smoke is being blown from large fires near Warragamba Dam and the Wollombi national park.



