Australia bushfire danger raised to catastrophic for three areas
Australia is bracing itself for its worst day of bushfires tomorrow as fires threaten heavily populated areas in the east.
The New South Wales (NSW) Rural Fire Service warned that catastrophic fire danger is now forecast for Greater Sydney, Greater Hunter and Illawarra/Shoalhaven areas on Tuesday 12 November 2019, due to worsening weather conditions. “Large areas will see severe and extreme fire danger,” it stated on its website. “These are very dangerous conditions.”
The NSW Rural Fire Service said the fire danger is now expected to be worse than originally forecast. Catastrophic is the highest level of bush fire danger. Homes are not designed to withstand a fire under these conditions.
“If a fire starts and takes hold during catastrophic fire danger conditions, lives and homes will be at risk,” said the NSW Rural Fire Service.
It advised people to avoid bush fire prone areas and head to safer areas such as a large town or city, shopping centres or facilities well away from bushland areas. Schools in identified high risk areas will be closed.
“Large areas of the state are also forecast to experience severe and extreme fire danger. This includes in the north coast and northern NSW areas, where there is a large number of fires already burning,” it added. “These fires will not be contained in time and will threaten lives and properties.”
A statewide total fire ban has been declared for all areas of NSW for all of Monday and Tuesday.
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