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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Calla Wahlquist (now) and Amy Corderoy and Michael McGowan (earlier)

Tahmoor coalmine evacuated as Green Wattle Creek blaze rages – as it happened

There was a total fire ban across most of the country on Thursday amid dangerous conditions.
There was a total fire ban across most of the country on Thursday amid dangerous conditions. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Summary: homes lost and worse conditions to come

We will leave our live coverage of the bushfire crisis here for tonight.

This is what happened today:

  • About 20 structures have been destroyed in the Balmoral and Bargo area, according to official – and conservative – RFS estimates. There are unconfirmed reports of a house being destroyed at Bilpin from the Gospers Mountain fire, and fears that the actual number of homes lost near Balmoral and Bargo will be much higher.
  • Fires are currently threatening lives and homes in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. Emergency warnings remain in place for Gospers Mountain, around Bilpin, and Green Wattle Creek Fire, around Balmoral and Bargo.
  • That Gospers Mountain fire has crossed Bells Line of Road again, circumventing a 7km containment line. The estimated area is 417,000ha.
  • Three firefighters are recovering in hospital after being burned near Bargo.
  • Australia broke its one-day-old record for its hottest ever day. The average maximum temperature on Wednesday was 41.9C – that’s a full degree warmer than the previous record for Australia’s warmest ever day, which was set on Tuesday.

What we can expect for tomorrow.

  • South Australia is at the greatest risk of horrific bushfires tomorrow. A fire danger rating of catastrophic has been issued for SIX of its 15 fire regions. Those regions are the Lower Eyre Peninsula, the Mid North, Mount Lofty Ranges, Yorke Peninsula, Kangaroo Island and Lower South East.
  • The Wimmera and South West regions of Victoria will have extreme fire conditions tomorrow. Melbourne is forecast to have its hottest ever December day, with a maximum of 44C.
  • New South Wales will have a slight respite from the heat tomorrow, before very bad fire conditions on Saturday. Extreme fire conditions are forecast for the Greater Hunter, Greater Sydney Region, Southern Ranges, Central Ranges, and Illawarra/Shoalhaven. That’s all the areas where fires are currently burning.

Where to go for information in the mean time:

Stay safe, and we will see you in the morning.

Updated

What a difference a day makes. These photos are from Lithgow.

Yesterday:

Today:

Updated emergency warning for the Gospers Mountain fire, which is now 417,000ha in size.

Updated

Both the Springvale coalmine and the Mount Piper power station on the western edge of the Blue Mountains, under threat from the Gospers Mountain megafire, remain unburned.

The ABC has reported that the Springvale mine was surrounded by fire last night but firefighters managed to hold back the flames. There was reportedly fire across the road from the Mount Piper power station today but again they didn’t get close.

Updated

The Channel Seven helicopter is flying over Buxton, hit by the Green Wattle Creek fire today.

Tahmoor coalmine evacuated

About 100 workers were evacuated from the Tahmoor coking mine, which is under threat from the Green Wattle Creek fire today.

The call to evacuate the underground mine came at 1pm, a spokesman for the company said. They have not had any updates since.

Mine management is working with the RFS on the protection of the site.

In 2015, a bushfire spread into the Hazelwood coalmine in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. The coal burned for 45 days, and the operators of the Hazelwood power station were last month found guilty of 10 WorkSafe offences for failing to adequately prepare for the fire.

But, Tahmoor operator SIMEC Mining was at pains to point out, Hazelwood is an open-cut coalmine while they are underground, so the risk profile is different.

Updated

'Up to 20 structures' destroyed in Green Wattle Creek fire

I just spoke to the RFS, who say that their current estimate for fires damaged in the Green Wattle Creek fire near Balmoral and Bargo today is “up to 20 structures.”

Earlier, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said 20 properties were confirmed lost and another 20 were unconfirmed. There has been a bit of misinterpretation, says the RFS.

They will not be able to do a proper damage assessment until the fire is no longer active in the area, which could be several days. That figure of 20 structures is conservative, but that’s the official figure.

Queensland Police have revoked the emergency declaration which was in place around the Gregory River fire, southeast of Bundaberg. It had been in place since Monday afternoon.

So, that’s one bit of good news.

Angus Taylor will not discuss police investigation

Angus Taylor told ABC24 it was “not appropriate” for him to comment on a police investigation into a doctored document used by his office to justify a political attack on the lord mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore. Labor referred the matter to NSW police last month.

Taylor:

I really haven’t got any further comment to make. I’ve made a statement in the Parliament and that’s - that’s all I can do at this point.

ABC presenter Karina Carvalho pointed out that, actually, Taylor can comment unless charges have been laid and it will be subject to a trial by jury. That’s when the contempt period would begin.

Taylor again:

Well, as I say, as I say, there’s ongoing inquiries here and I’m not going to make any further comment. I’ve made a very clear statement on this in the parliament, an unambiguous statement and I stand by that statement. I haven’t really got anymore to add.

You can ask the question lots of different ways – I’ll give you the same answer.

Taylor’s statement in parliament left many questions unanswered, as Christopher Knaus explained here.

Updated

PM is ‘pretty well connected’, says Angus Taylor

Angus Taylor told ABC24 he had been in touch with prime minister Scott Morrison, who is on holidays, and he is “pretty well connected about what’s gone on.”

Taylor:

I’m not convinced he’s having a very significant holiday right now. He’s working very hard to make sure that communities are well supported.

Should the PM come home?

That’s a question Morrison will answer, says Taylor.

I’m sure he’s coming home ... He’s coming home soon anyway. He’s finishing up his holiday this week.

Updated

The energy minister, Angus Taylor, has just done an interview with ABC24 from the Picton Bowling Club, which is in his electorate and an evacuation point for the Green Wattle Creek fire.

About 250 people are at the evacuation point, Taylor says. Emergency messages were sent out after the fire jumped containment lines.

This is a community that went through dreadful bushfires back in 2013 and it really does band together ... They unite in these situations of adversity. We’re still waiting to see what damage there has been and, in particular, how the fire is continuing the progress at the moment.

Taylor said the RFS units in his electorate had been “hard at it for weeks”.

Asked if Australia was doing enough to combat climate change, given that Australia has just had its two hottest days ever and is currently on fire, Taylor said there have been fires since he was a kid.

Taylor:

When we have fires the great thing we’ve done, since I was a kid, is we unite. It is very, very important that we unite behind communities like this one in Wollondilly. People want that support. They give each that support. That’s the most important thing we can do at times like this.

Yes, but what about the emissions?

I’m obviously extremely conscious of Australia doing its bit on emissions. I’ve just been in Spain telling other delegates, telling other delegations about the work that Australia has done. We’ve beaten our 2012 targets. We’re well over expectation on our 2020 targets, almost a year’s worth of emissions reductions and we’ve laid out exactly how we’ll achieve, meet and beat our 2030 targets. We’ll keep striving to do that. That’s our bit we’ve got to do.

Taylor’s positive account of his contribution at COP25, and Australia’s contribution to emissions reduction more generally, does not accord with that of the other attendees, who accused Australia of “cheating”. You can read environment editor Adam Morton’s account of it here.

Updated

Property loss revised down to 20

The ABC has just reported that the actual number of houses destroyed today is 20, not up to 40.

Earlier, Gladys Berejiklian said that there were 20 homes confirmed destroyed and 20 unconfirmed, but it seems there was some misinterpretation there.

We are seeking confirmation from the RFS.

Updated emergency warning for Green Wattle Creek

Fire activity is increasing on the eastern edge of the Bargo State Conservation Area, where up to 40 homes have already been destroyed today.

Residents at Nattai, Pheasants Nest, Buxton, Couridjah, Thirlmere, Tahmoor, Bargo and Yanderra have been told to shelter from the fire because it is too late to leave.

The RFS is reporting dangerous fire conditions across the fire ground with “eratic fire behaviour”.

Properties are currently under threat.

Updated

The loss of up to 40 properties today takes the total number of homes lost in NSW since the fire season began to 800.

As of 5.30pm there are 106 fires burning in NSW, exactly half of which are not contained.

Two — Gospers Mountain and Green Wattle Creek fires — are at emergency warning level.

There are 2,500 firefighters in the field.

Firefighters’ homes are among those lost.

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, told the ABC that the properties lost were on the eastern edge of the Green Wattle Creek fire, mainly in the communities of Balmoral and Buxton.

That has been one of the most active areas of bushfire today. The firefighters who are in hospital receiving treatments for burns this afternoon were fighting in that region, in Bargo.

Berejiklian described the loss of homes as “tragic”.

Reports are that some of those homes that have been lost are actually homes of firefighters — people who’ve given up their own personal safety to go and support others in the community.

Our heart goes out to those people who’ve lost their homes but also, in particular, to the firefighters who’ve been injured.

Asked if she had requested any more resources or funding from the federal government to deal with the bushfire crisis, Berejiklian said:

The New South Wales emergency personnel resources have everything they need to keep the community safe.

But what concerns us today, and even worse on Saturday, is the unpredictable nature of the weather, the turbulent winds. Hotter, dryer temperatures have meant that the embers and the spot fires can actually travel for a long distances and cause very unpredictable fire fronts.

Updated

Up to 40 homes destroyed

Twenty homes have been confirmed destroyed in the Green Wattle Creek fire today and another 20 are unconfirmed, says NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

South Australia will be under a statewide total fire ban again tomorrow.

Updated emergency warning: Bilpin under threat

The RFS have issued an updated emergency warning for the Gospers Mountain fire.

Fire activity has increased around Bilpin, Mt Wilson, Mt Irvine and Itchenstoke. It’s too late to leave.

I just spoke to Kazan Brown, who lives at Warragamba. It is one of the communities under threat from the Green Wattle Creek fire. There is ash falling in her backyard, says Brown, but it has been doing that since the fire first started three weeks ago.

Brown and her family have lived at Warragamba forever, and have fronted a campaign against a proposal to raise the dam wall. They’re Gundungurra, this is their country. And it’s on fire.

A lot of important sites where there is rock art — the fires just went through them.... There will be scar trees that won’t survive.

Thanks for your time today on the live blog. Calla Wahlquist will be taking over for now.

I’ll leave you with this photo from Thirlmere, showing the sights people are coming home to this evening.

Shocking footage showing the devastation at Bargo, NSW.

More footage has emerged from the climate protest outside Scott Morrison’s Sydney prime ministerial residence, where NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge was arrested today.

This young girl was also issued with a move-on order, according to Twitter user @RivOMac.

The protestors had vowed to “camp-out” at the residence until Morrison returns from leave on Monday.

Updated

Here’s a quick summary of what has happened today:

  • Two firefighters have received serious burns after their five-person crew was “enveloped” by a rapidly growing blaze near Bargo, NSW, today. The two men were intubated and airlifted to hospital, while another female firefighter was evacuated by road ambulance to be treated for burns and smoke inhalation.
  • Two fires are still burning at “emergency” level, at Gospers Mountain and Green Wattle Creek. Three are at “watch and act” and more than 60 fires are currently at advice level.
  • Conditions are expected to improve tomorrow, but many areas are expected to remain at severe or very high fire danger.
  • While a cool change is sweeping across the state, NSW remains drenched in ash, with the majority of monitoring stations reaching “hazardous” air quality levels today.
  • Australia has for two days running now beaten the record for “hottest day”, with maximum temperatures reaching an average of 41.9C on Wednesday.

Updated

Despite the fire danger easing off tomorrow, it is still listed as “severe” for the Central Ranges and “very high” for the Southern Ranges, Northern Slopes and North Western and Southern Slopes.

Updated

Australia’s record for its hottest ever day has tumbled for the second day running

Australia’s record for its hottest day has tumbled for the second day running, with maximum temperatures reaching an average of 41.9C on Wednesday, the Bureau of Meteorology has just confirmed.

The previous record of 40.9C was set just a day earlier, on Tuesday, beating the previous 40.3C mark set on 7 January 2013.

The hottest individual December day at any location was also broken on Thursday, when Eucla, in south-east Western Australia hit 49.8C. The Nullarbor came in second place at 49.7C.

Dr Karl Braganza, manager of climate monitoring at the bureau, told Guardian Australia: ‘Clearly we have background warming that has impacted Australia. The frequency we are setting high temperature records greatly exceeds the setting of cold records. It is clear that climate change has contributed to setting records of this type.

‘It is typical for records like these to fall in a bunch because of the way heatwaves progress along the continent. The heat builds over the central west.’

To calculate the record, the bureau takes about 700 observations from weather stations across the continent and places them on a grid and then calculates the average.
Those calculations are then cross-checked with a reference network of 100 stations, known as ACORN-SAT, and “if they line up, that gives us confidence” added Braganza.

The previous December record for Australia was Birdsville, that reached 49.5C on 24 December 1972.

Updated

People across NSW will be holding their breath as they leave the office this afternoon, with air quality around Sydney extremely poor.

The most recent figures from Air Quality Index Data from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage shows all but three regions of NSW currently have reached poor or hazardous air quality.

In Sydney alone, every monitoring station reached “hazardous” levels just after lunch today.

Fitzsimmons has also warned that Saturday could be worse.

Today, he says, conditions have shaped up to be as bad as he feared.

“Down the south coast, we saw weather stations registering extreme fire
danger ratings with a combination of high 30s, low 40 temperatures and strong westerlies. That was at 10am.

“We’re expecting to see that sort of environment unfolding Saturday when the temperatures and strong winds from the west will be dominant from 9am or 10am in the morning and this will sustained for 10-15 hours. Saturday will be a very, very difficult day.”

Replacement crews – from interstate but also from the US and Canada – are scheduled to arrive on the scene on Saturday, and help the RFS battle the blazes.

Updated

The fires that “enveloped” a crew of five firefighters today switched from metre-high blazes to towering infernos too quickly to escape, according to RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.

“I have had field reports from out there that very quickly they saw lots of fire activity from metre-high flame heights, to flames burning through the tops of trees and canopy burning, crowning fires, under very strong winds,” Fitzsimmons says. “It was very volatile, very dynamic and, unfortunately, emblematic of much of the fire behaviour we’ve seen, under the hot, dry, windy conditions.”

Updated

The “dozens” of homes lost that comissioner Fitzsimmons referred to are mostly around Bargo in the Wollondilly shire.

Of that, some are the homes of firefighters themselves, who were out today at other firegrounds.

There is “quite a considerable amount of property being impacted”, Fitzsimmons told reporters. People’s homes, businesses, and even poultry farming operations in the area could be affected, he says.

He says the firefighters who lost their homes are “absolutely shattered” .

“They’re devastated by loss no matter what, but it just goes that little further when it’s your own home, or the colleague you’ve got sitting on the fire truck next to you,
having lost their home, while they’re out saving others.

“So it’s a tough afternoon. It will be another very emotional, very draining day for our firefighters.”

Updated

The Rural Fire Service, the defence force and search-and-rescue teams have been mobilised to rescue people in the small NSW town of Itchenstoke, according to RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.

Itchenstoke, north of Bilpin, on the Bells Line of Road, became isolated today when fire cut off the only road in and out of the town.

“The advice [to people in the town] was to shelter in place as the fire approaches,” Fitzsimmons said. “Some of our aircraft, particularly working with our defence force with the search and rescue teams ... were [then] touching down in that area and helping to extract a few people that wanted to be relocated out of that vicinity and that was safely done as I understand it.”

Updated

“Dozens” of structures, including homes, have been lost in the fires today, according to RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.

“There are lots of buildings including people’s homes and livelihoods that are being impacted by this fire this afternoon,” he has told a press briefing.

The cool change bringing relief to many in NSW this afternoon is increasing the danger.

“You get increased volatility, erratic fire behaviour and you get dramatic changes in fire intensity and fire spread. It’s still a very difficult set of circumstances in around the fire ground both for firefighters, emergency services and also for the communities in and around that area being impacted,” he said.

Updated

It looks like we’re getting a white Christmas, but not one we would ever have wished for.

Firefighters airlifted to hospital after being engulfed by blaze

Three firefighters have been seriously injured in NSW today, with two airlifted for emergency treatment.

RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said a crew of five was overrun by fire near the Bargo area, with a number of crew members suffering serious burn injuries.

“My advice is that the crews were operating and this particular crew, a crew of five, were overrun by fire. Enveloped by fire.”

“They were first treated by their Fire and Rescue counterparts who were close by with first aid before being transported to the local showground, where ambulance paramedics arrived on scene to triage and treat and assess the injuries,” he said.

Two members of the crew received airway burns and needed to be intubated to protect their breathing, he said.

A 36-year-old and 56-year-old male were airlifted from the scene with serious facial and airway burns, and burns to other parts of their bodies including their arms, elbow, upper chest and a leg.

A female was also treated for smoke inhalation and superficial burns and was taken to hospital by road ambulance.

There are currently 50 fires uncontained in NSW, with a number at emergency level.

Updated

NSW RFS are on patrol at the Hawkesbury River.

The cool change has reached the Illawarra region, and there is not long to wait for relief from the heat for greater Sydney, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Hume Highway closed between Campbelltown and Mittagong due to fire

The Hume Highway has now been closed between Campbelltown and Mittagong due to the Green Wattle Creek fire.

Updated

Footage of the Gospers Mountain fire showing the scale of the fire front.

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge has been arrested at the Sydney climate protest.

Shoebridge told Guardian Australia that he was at the rally to show solidarity with the student protestors, but had been attempting to comply with a NSW police move-on order when “they cut me off, arrested me and put me in the back of a paddy wagon”.

“It was all very unnecessary and a complete waste of police and court time, and obviously we’ll be defending it,” he said.

Shoebridge described a chaotic scene at the protest, as police attempted to issue mass move-on notices via loudhailer, but were shouted down by protestors.

“Then they [the riot squad] came in as a kind of phalanx and started singling out individuals and issuing them with single move-on directions,” he said.

Updated

Australia has reached “Devil’s armpit” level on the heat map, according to cartoonist Glen Le Lievre.

The RFS is emphasising the risk posed by a southerly wind change this afternoon, with Bargo likely to be quickly moved into the fire’s path.

Accused “raving inner-city lunatic” (see below) and leader of the Australian Greens, Dr Richard Di Natale, has released a statement today calling for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to convene an emergency meeting to address the fires.

His statement calls on the PM to do the following:

  1. Commit to convening an emergency summit with the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action to discuss improving how we prepare for and resource bushfire emergencies in a changed climate.
  2. Meet with the presidents of medical colleges who have called the current crisis a public health emergency.
  3. Convene an urgent cross-party forum with the leaders of the main political parties to find a way forward on climate policy, similar to that implemented by John Howard in response to the Port Arthur tragedy.

Updated

Emergency warning for Gospers Mountain: too late to leave Itchenstoke

An emergency warning has been released for Gospers Mountain. It is now too late to leave.

Updated

Local incident commander for the Rural Fire Service David Stimpson has urged motorists to stay off the roads in the Green Wattle Fire zone.

“Stay off. I don’t think I can be any more stern than that. The situation is that some people may have to move, and I would say only move if it’s absolutely necessary, otherwise stay where you are,” he told the ABC.

He was responding to reports from locals that roads were becoming heavily congested from Picton towards the Hume Highway.

“[Cars already on the roads should] move out of the area so you are not contributing to a buildup of traffic that may impact on the movement of our fire appliances,” he said.

Winds could shift the fire direction towards more heavily populated areas in Buxton and towards Tarmoor, and locals needed to prepare, he said.

Alerts have previously been issued that it is too late to evacuate from these areas.

Updated

ABC crews at Balmoral, near Picton in the NSW southern highlands, are reporting that they can see at least three homes on fire from their helicopter.

Forget climate change — let’s talk about exploding horse manure

Yes. Michael McCormack, deputy prime minister of Australia, would like inner-city Greenies to know that while climate change may be a factor in the worsening bushfire risk, so too is exploding horse manure.

This is not actually as ridiculous as it sounds. Spontaneous combustion of hay sheds on very hot days is not unheard of, and horse manure, when dried, is basically compacted, smelly hay. Spontaneously combusting manure piles is a recognised barn fire hazard, according to the three minutes of Googling I just did. Of course, in Australia, horse manure generally lies in the paddock and crumbles into dust pretty quickly. Anyway.

This is what McCormack said, in full, via my colleague Naaman Zhou.

Climate change of course is a factor.

So are lightning strikes from dry thunderstorms. So are, in a case in South Australia, horse manure, self-combusting – and we have had, all too tragically, a number of arson attacks too

Last month, McCormack said that blaming climate change on bushfires was “inner-city Greenies ravings”. He said today that those comments had been misreported, that he did not say the link between climate change and bushfires was “inner-city ravings” and that the ravings were actually comments stating that prime minister Scott Morrison was responsible for the fatal bushfires.

McCormack:

We had Adam Bandt and Richard Di Natale from the Greens accusing the prime minister of being somehow responsible for the deaths.

I was accusing them of being raving inner-city lunatics.

Glad that’s cleared up.

Updated

‘Adani is going ahead’: McCormack

Today is apparently a good day to talk about increasing Australia’s coal exports. That will be one of Scott Morrison’s aims when he visits India next month, acting PM Michael McCormack told reporters today, which could include talks to advance the Indian-owned Adani coalmine.

McCormack:

We will wait and see, but Adani has been ticked off by the Queensland government. So Adani is going ahead. The fact is, this is going to lead to more coal exports. We need more coal exports.

The prime minister is going to have a number of talks with his Indian counterpart, Modi. Talks with business leaders of course. We need to continue and enhance our trade and negotiations with India.

McCormack was then asked the obvious question: you’re talking about coal exports while standing in the incident control centre for a statewide bushfire emergency. What about the link between climate change and bushfires?

His answer is going to need another post.

Updated

Acting prime minister tells climate protesters: 'You are wasting your time. Go and do something productive'

Deputy prime minister Michael McCormack, who is acting PM while Scott Morrison is overseas, has confirmed that Morrison will be back at work on Monday. As in, he is returning to work the day before Christmas eve.

This morning, hundreds of protestors camped outside Kirribilli House, angry at Morrison’s absence and lack of leadership during the bushfire crisis.

Speaking to the protesters through reporters at the RFS state control centre, McCormack said:

You are wasting your time.

Go and do something productive. Go and donate your time to meals on wheels and something like that. The fact is, the PM is not there. He is having a well deserved holiday.

Those people who are shouting and screaming … go and help someone out in need. Do a good turn rather than shouting and screaming and holding up placards that not always the words are spelt correctly on ....

He’s entitled to a holiday. The PM takes a week off, he is entitled to that.

McCormack said there was no need for Morrison to return home early, despite NSW declaring a state of emergency and expecting some of its hottest days on record.

The prime minister is very across this issue. He is getting daily briefings, if not hourly briefings, and he is very across it.

We are in constant contact. I am the acting prime minister, I am here at the state control centre, I am here with RFS Commissioner Fitzsimmons.

Does McCormack think Morrison has shown leadership on the fires?

Yes I do.

I’m sure we’d all like examples. McCormack provides:

He has been out with the fires, I have been with him in many electorates. Talking to the people on the ground, we have provided the assistance that has been asked by the state firefighting authorities.

He has led from the front, as you expect a PM to do so, and he will continue to do so in the future.

Updated

The southern highlands train line is not operating between Moss Vale and Campbelltown because of bushfire. The fire crossed the railway line near Balmoral.

A replacement bus service is being organised but if you can put off or avoid travel, it’s recommended you do so.

Updated

The scariest bit is when it turns purple, and you realise they had to put a colour code hotter than fire-engine red ...

Updated

NSW Health has provided this advice on how you can keep yourself safe in the heat.

Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill urges leaders to 'take control of crisis or get out of way'

This just in from Mark Greenhill, the Blue Mountains mayor, who has written about his fury at watching the devastation unfolding around him:

Yesterday in the northern part of the Blue Mountains, I walked through a scenery of devastation and loss.

This community is bearing witness to the climate crisis, besieged by bushfire all around and struggling to cope with extreme air pollution.

People are also asking me why our leaders at a state and federal level are in denial about what is happening here and in other parts of Australia that are on fire?

There is incomprehension at the lack of leadership during this climate crisis.

Governments need to be present and that means actually coming up with answers to legitimate questions about how they are going to ensure the safety of communities in the face of more intense and more frequent extreme weather events. As we face unprecedented temperatures, what plans do the federal and state governments have to counter climate change? What actions are they taking to support communities like mine and help us to get back to our normal lives?

Because, in truth, we can’t see any plans at all.

Our patience is running out. We ask our leaders: do what you were elected to do, take control and show leadership. If not, get out of the way so other people can save our country.

Updated

Visibility in NSW continues to worsen. Here is some satellite vision of the smoke on the east coast of NSW.

Satellite view of the smoke over the NSW east coast.

Updated

More on the Green Wattle Creek fire: the Illawarra Mercury reports multiple houses alight.

Updated

The Green Wattle Creek fire is worsening. It is now too late to leave in Buxton, Couridjah, Thirlmere and Tahmoor.

The fire has crossed the railway line near Balmoral.

Updated

A lot of sad and scary fire news around today, so please take a brief emotional break and enjoy this picture of a koala in a bucket.

Premier Berejiklian: conditions on Saturday to be even worse than today

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has just gone on radio station 2GB to discuss her declaration that NSW is now in a state of emergency. She said that while today was extremely concerning, authorities were most worried about conditions on Saturday.

“The temperatures will be higher, and the wind turbulence more severe,” she said.

After the recent public outcry about resourcing for fire services, Berejiklian stated that they were well equipped to manage the coming days.

“We have everything we need, we have the resources on the ground, but what we don’t have is a crystal ball in relation to these conditions,” she said.

But she asked that people heed health and safety warnings.

Updated

The NSW government has responded to the fire emergency by announcing an increase in demerit points for drivers who throw lit cigarettes out vehicle windows.

In a media release, the minister for police and emergency services, David Elliott, said if a driver commits the offence during a total fire ban the penalty will double to from five to 10 demerit points, and a fine of up to $11,000.

The minister for transport and roads, Andrew Constance, said more than 200 people had been caught carelessly tossing a lit cigarette this year alone.

Updated

Green Wattle Creek fire: too late to leave Balmoral

The Green Wattle Creek fire is moving quickly towards the southern highlands village of Balmoral. The RFS advises it is now too late to leave Balmoral and people should seek shelter.

Updated

Shoalhaven emergency warning issued: too late to leave some areas

Fires in the Shoalhaven LGA are getting worse. It is now too late to leave in Jerrawangola and Wandandian.

Scroll down our coverage to see the view from Vincentia beach.

Updated

The smoke is really starting to overtake Sydney. Here is a tweet from the Bureau of Meteorology only two hours ago showing the smoke on the radar, compared with the radar now:

Bureau of Meteorology satellite view of NSW
Bureau of Meteorology satellite view of NSW on 19 December 2019, just after 11:30am. Photograph: BOM

“In Sydney we’ve just been watching the visibility deteriorate,” says Gabrielle Woodhouse from the bureau.

Updated

For many people from NSW and Australia, Jervis Bay and its surrounds are synonymous with Australian summer holidays. Today the view from the beach in Vincentia is terrifying.

Updated

Hi, it’s Amy Corderoy taking over from Michael McGowan ...

NSW paramedics are bracing for more heat and fire-related emergencies, warning vulnerable people to be vigilant and protect themselves today.

There has already been a 10% increase in calls for patients with respiratory conditions over the past week as bushfire smoke causes dangerous conditions, AAP reports. Young children and elderly people are also at risk.

An additional 187 extra paramedics will be on duty to help tackle the “quite remarkable conditions”, says NSW Ambulance’s chief executive, Dominic Morgan.

He said anyone in a “vulnerable group” such as the elderly or very young needed a plan to cope with the heat and ensure they stayed well hydrated.

“Just this morning I became aware of a three-year-old who had such a severe asthma attack that they were unable to speak,” Morgan told reporters in Sydney.

Signs of heat exhaustion include dizziness and confusion, headaches, appetite loss, excessive sweating, leg, stomach and arm cramps and thirst.

Updated

In a cafe in Penrith, ducking in for a coffee, is Steve, an RFS volunteer in bright yellow vest. Steve works in a nearby fire control centre. He says one of his jobs today is to keep all the firefighters safe from the heat.

“Baically the main thing is we ensure all volunteers stay hydrated,” he says. “We tell them they need to drink at least one litre an hour. And regularly rotate crews through the different positions. We have someone doing the really hot stuff and others that aren’t.”

I ask him if it’ll be a busy day for him.

“Oh yeah. We’ve got extreme fire danger forecast, and numerous fires currently burning, with huge perimeters, so the chances that they become uncontrolled is pretty high.”

Updated

We have just updated our interactive map showing the size of the area burned in NSW and Queensland since the start of the fire season.

The total area is now 3.1m hectares. If this was a country, it would be the 136th largest – larger than Belgium, and just smaller than Moldova.

Updated

The view out in the Oaks near Campbelltown in south-west Sydney this morning.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions has announced it is will push for an urgent upgrade of health workplace health safety conditions to address the risk of working in heat and smoke.

The ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, and assistant secretary Liam O’Brien are announcing the proposal today to regulate exposure to heat and smoke.

The guidelines include advice on how to minimise exposure to heat and smoke pollution and how to recognise serious health risks.

Updated

At a McDonald’s off the Great Western Highway, Jake and Samson are taking a break. Luckily, they work indoors in Penrith, in a nearby warehouse.

“If it gets too hot, it’s normally bearable,” Jake says. “We’ve got fans, they give us cold packs and cold water. It’s something we can deal with.”

They’ve been at work today since 6am. But that means they clock off just as the heat will reach its 45C peak.

“Oh, I’ll be going indoors for sure,” Jake says. “Lots of water ... we both have air con.”

But Samson interjects. “Even sometimes with air con on, it’s fucking hot dude! Seriously, when the air con is on, and the outside is hot, it’s hotter.”

“My aircon does the job,” says Jake.

Updated

A fire in the Shoalhaven area is now at watch and act.

Updated

Crowds are growing at a protest outside the prime minister’s residence, Kirribilli House. Australian Associated Press reports that riot squad officers are on the scene but there is no sense of the protest getting out of hand.

A group of students representing the Schools Strike 4 Climate movement stood with other protesters, some of whom were wearing Hawaiian shirts, carrying placards declaring “The time to talk is now” and “C’mon SloMo”.

From Australian Associated Press:

They called on the federal government to take immediate action on climate change and urged no new coal and gas projects, a transition to 100% renewables and funding for affected fossil fuel workers.

Dr Kim Loo said there was no framework currently in place to deal with the effects of climate change on health.

“It is negligent not to do anything about mitigation or adaptation. It is criminal to continue mining, burning, exporting oil, coal and gas because it’s fuelling the crisis,” Loo told the crowd.

“And this is the greatest crisis to our health in the 21st century.”

Cheers erupted as Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said Morrison was missing at a time of crisis.

“Everyone is gathered here today to ask one question, ‘Where the bloody hell is the prime minister?’” Faruqi said.

Sydney student Ambrose Hayes said Morrison’s holiday was badly timed.

“Our direct message to Scott Morrison is for him to come home ... even though he’s entitled to a holiday, it shouldn’t be at a time where Australia is in crisis,” said the 14-year-old.

Updated

Ambulance Victoria responded to eight reports of children locked in vehicles yesterday, including a preschool-aged girl who was left with a primary school-aged child in a hot car at Narre Warren South about 4.30pm.

The girl wasn’t taken to hospital.

Please do not do this.

Updated

It’s 9.30am right now in Penrith, western Sydney, and thankfully, still cool. The suburb is forecast to hit 45C today and 46C on Saturday.

It’s the next two or three hours that will hurt, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Right now, it’s a breezy 26.2C. By 11am that will rise to 39C. 13C over two hours.

But the haze and bushfire smoke is already thick. Here we’re only about 30km from the southernmost edge of the huge Gospers Mountain megafire, burning through the Blue Mountains. Smoke from the 400,000 hectare blaze is rolling down in waves.

Updated

The NSW ambulance commissioner, Dominic Morgan, says paramedics have seen a 10% increase in call-outs for patients suffering respiratory ailments in the last week amid what he called “remarkable” conditions.

He said people with respiratory conditions “need to be very vigilant”.

“It can be a life-threatening condition,” he said. “Just this morning, I became aware of a three-year-old who had such a severe asthma attack that they were unable to speak.”

Air quality in much of NSW is rated from poor to hazardous on Thursday.

Updated

From a protest outside the prime minister’s Sydney residence at Kirribilli this morning. They’re unhappy at Scott Morrison’s absence during bushfire crisis.

What does a state of emergency actually mean?

It allows powers to be transferred from the NSW government to the Rural Fire Service commissioner.

Those powers include:

  • The power to direct any NSW government agency to conduct or refrain from conducting its functions
  • Control and coordinate the allocation of government resources
  • Evacuate people from property within the declared area
  • Close roads and thoroughfares to traffic
  • Pull down or shore up infrastructure at risk of collapse
  • Order the shutdown of essential utilities in the declared area, including electricity, gas, oil and water
  • Enter or take possession of property in the course of the emergency response.

Updated

That press conference with the the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and the RFS commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, has now ended.

Just to reiterate, the premier announced a state of emergency for NSW for the next seven days amid “unpredictable” weather conditions that are causing extreme fire danger across much of the state today and later in the week.

Fitzsimmons said there were three major fires he was concerned about. All three are burning near residential populations, and he said there was a risk communities could be impacted today.

They are the Currowan fire on the state’s south coast near Batemans Bay and Ulladulla, the Gospers Mountain fire which stretches through the Central Coast to Lithgow, and the Ruined Castle fire which stretches from Picton in Sydney’s south-west through the Blue Mountains and into the state’s west.

Both the Gospers Mountain and Green Wattle Creek fire are burning at “watch and act” this morning. All other fires are at “advice”.

Updated

Shane Fitzsimmons continues, saying he’s picking up a sense of “despair” in firefighters.

Look, I think the big thing that I’m picking up from crews, year in, year out, is their sense of despair and challenge because you’ve got such a dry landscape, the structure of the landscape is resulting in fires starting so easily and spreading so very quickly, and proving to be extremely difficult to suppress and contain.

And we just cannot overstate the criticality of the drought and its effect on the vegetation and how volatile the fire behaviour becomes. And we’re seeing fire behaviour much greater, with spotting activity and flame heights and that sort of thing, than would otherwise be the case for the sorts of conditions we’re experiencing.

He said the fires had a psychological impact on firefighters:

They’re invested in their local community. So when they see, when they see impact, when they see loss, when they see damage and destruction and devastation in their local community, it’s not just a job, it’s not just another day in firefighting. That’s their neighbour. That’s their town. That’s their own home being impacted by the fires.

They take it very personally and the amount of conversations I’ve had with firefighters and incident controls and incident management teams that feel they’ve failed because they’ve lost a home or a property in their town.

Updated

Shane Fitzsimmons has been asked whether he’s confident that RFS volunteers are appropriately equipped and resourced. He says he’s “extremely confident”:

But the reality is we’ve got a scale and a magnitude of fire operations unfolding this season and that has necessitated assistance and support well beyond just local capabilities.

So, yes, I’m absolutely confident, but the scale and the magnitude of this season, and the fire operations, is such that we’ve had to bring in, necessarily, a whole heap of interstate and international assistance.

There’s a lot of very tired and fatigued people right across New South Wales, physically, emotionally, psychologically, that are truly invested in trying to save and protect their local community and communities across New South Wales.

That question follows reports of firefighters crowdfunding for smoke masks.

Updated

The RFS commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, said conditions would remain “very serious and dangerous” over the coming days, and the forecast was that Saturday “will be even worse”.

“While we still have fires burning effectively from the Queensland border right down to the south coast of New South Wales, the worst of the fire weather conditions, the extreme fire danger ratings we are expecting today, are centred around the greater Sydney, the Illawarra/Shoalhaven area under southern ranges,” he said.

Fitzsimmons said the fire burning between Batemans Bay and Ulladulla was “likely to impact communities” in those areas today. He said another fire burning to Sydney’s south-west effectively spanned from Picton in south-west to the town of Oberon in the west.

“That southern exposure is quite at risk for communities,” he said.

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian made the announcement at a press conference just a moment ago. She acknowledged it could mean problems for people travelling over the Christmas period.

“We want everybody to be together with their families and enjoy the time and be safe, but please be aware that the state of emergency might mean extra diversions, extra road closures,” she said. “It might mean if you are using the roads that you are delayed, or in fact your plans have to change.”

She said the “biggest concern” was the unpredictability of the weather patterns “with extreme wind conditions [and] extremely hot temperatures”:

We don’t take these declarations lightly. We only take them when the conditions are so severe that we want everybody to be alert. We want to ensure Commissioner Fitzsimmons has all the authority legally and all the powers that he has to ensure that he can take any decision to protect life and property, and I just want to thank everybody for their understanding of their patience.

I appreciate that for many families this could be a disruptive period, but we ask everybody to ... be sensible, to be cautious and also to expect, when they are on the roads, they should expect delays.

They should expect perhaps to reach their destination later than expected, but also perhaps have to change their plans depending on what happens over the next few days.

Updated

NSW premier declares state of emergency

The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has announced a state of emergency for the next seven days.

She said she had made the decision after the advice from the Rural Fire Service commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, and that she was concerned about the “unpredictability” of the weather.

It is the second time in just over a month that NSW has been under a state of emergency due to the extreme weather.

Updated

Smoke on the radars.

High temperatures are forecast across most of the south-east of Australia today, including in Victoria and South Australia.

Victoria’s emergency management commissioner, Andrew Crisp, told the ABC it was “a tale of two states” with mild weather to the south but extremely hot weather in the state’s north around Swan Hill and Mildura.

Crisp said there had been reports of poor air quality in the eastern half of the Victoria as a result of fires in Gippsland in the north-east and also from NSW.

South Australia’s emergency services minister, Corey Wingard, said there had been reports of temperatures of close to 50 degrees in the northern part of the state this week.

“It is extreme, really hot, and that does focus people on making sure they are looking after each other and their neighbours, so across the state everyone is feeling it,” Wingard said.

Updated

While Tuesday was Australia’s hottest day on record, with an average of 40.9C across the country, it’s possible today could get even hotter.

Temperatures in parts of NSW and the ACT are expected to exceed 40C through to Saturday, while in the western half of the state the mercury could top 45C.

Sydney’s CBD is expected to hit a top of 40C, while Penrith has the dubious honour of being the city’s hottest location, with temperatures forecast to reach 45 degrees.

Further north and west it’s likely to be just as hot. Cessnock in the Hunter Valley is expected to reach 45C, as are many towns in the west that are dealing with water shortages.

Updated

Sydney has again woken up to a thick blanket of smoke from bushfires burning to the west. It has become an increasingly common sight this summer.

The Department of Planning and Environment has predicted “poor” air quality for Thursday, which could worsen as the day progresses.

Updated

The RFS has warned that three major fires pose the biggest risk on Thursday. They are:

  • The Currowan fire burning near Batemans Bay and Ulladulla on the state’s south coast
  • The Green Wattle Creek fire burning near Picton and Ruined Castle fire near the Megalong Valley
  • The Gospers Mountain fire burning near Kurrajong Heights, Bowen Mountain, communities on Bells Line of Road, Lithgow, and Cullen Bullen

As of Thursday morning the Gospers Mountain fire, which has already burned through 411,900 hectares, is rated as watch and act while the other two are at the advice level.

The RFS has warned those communities may come under threat on Thursday from embers or fire fronts. Conditions are then forecast to worsen again on Saturday. A state-wide total fire ban is in place in NSW.

Updated

Good morning,

The Rural Fire Service has issued “extreme” fire danger warnings for the Sydney, Illawarra/Shoalhaven and southern ranges regions on Thursday, with three “significant fires” in those areas posing “extreme to severe fire danger”.

The RFS has are also warned there remain “broad areas of severe and very high fire danger” across northern, eastern and southern parts of the state.

A statewide total fire ban is in place on Thursday as more than 100 fires continue to burn across NSW. The RFS said on Wednesday that conditions would be dangerous due to high temperatures, strong and gusty winds and low humidity.

Temperatures in the state and the ACT are expected to exceed 40C through to Saturday, while in the western half of the state the mercury could top 45C.

On Wednesday the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, warned firefighters would face an “enormous challenge” for the rest of the week, with the potential for “exceedingly concerning” winds to blow embers well ahead of fire fronts.

“Not only are we going to experience very high temperatures on Thursday and Saturday but there’s the exceedingly concerning wind conditions,” she told reporters on Wednesday.

“We’re going to have a number of wind fronts escalating the fuel, the fires burning, and the potential to have spot fires and embers travelling very long distances.”

Updated

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