New South
Wales bushfires: 'Mega blaze' warning near Sydney
6 December
2019
Officials
have issued fresh warnings for blazes around Sydney
About 100
bushfires are raging in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), with the
most severe forming into a "mega blaze" north of Sydney.
More than
2,000 firefighters are battling bushfires, which escalated in intensity late on
Thursday.
Footage of
one blaze on the southern fringe of the city showed firefighters fleeing as
flames surged forward.
Australia's
largest city has been blanketed by thick smoke all week, causing a rise in
medical problems.
Since
October, bushfires have killed six people and destroyed more than 700 homes
across Australia.
The
severity of the blazes so early in the fire season has caused alarm, and
prompted calls for greater action to tackle climate change.
More than
1.6 million hectares of land in NSW have been burnt already. Fires have also
raged across Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and
Tasmania.
Fires merge
Fires
spanned the entire NSW coastline on Friday, with some sparking emergency
warnings amid hot and windy conditions.
Authorities
confirmed three fires had merged into a "mega blaze" north of Sydney
on Friday, covering more than 300,000 hectares. That blaze is about the size of
greater Sydney, officials said.
"We
have also seen the fires coming in very close proximity to major population
centres," said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
Skip
Twitter post by @NSWRFS
NSW RFS
✔
@NSWRFS
As
conditions worsen across the state, fire activity is increasing. At 1pm, there
are 104 fires burning across the state, with 59 yet to be contained. Six fires
are at Emergency Warning and seven are at Watch and Act. Know what you will do
if fire threatens. #nswrfs #nswfires
View image
on Twitter
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3:07 AM -
Dec 6, 2019
Many fires
have raged for weeks, feeding off tinder-dry conditions from a severe drought
which has affected much of the nation.
"We
are in for another tough day," said NSW Rural Fire Service assistant
commissioner Rob Rogers, adding that several properties had been destroyed in
the past 24 hours.
Fire crews
from the US and Canada arrived in NSW this week to help tackle the blazes.
In
Queensland, authorities said at least two homes had been destroyed in the past
day.
City
'choking' on smoke
Sydney's
air quality deteriorated beyond "hazardous" levels this week as smoke
from the fires again blanketed the city. The front page of the Sydney Morning
Herald newspaper on Friday read: "Sydney chokes as state burns".
Hospital
admissions have risen 25% in the past week said officials, with people
reporting asthma and breathing problems. About five million people live in
greater Sydney.
People have
been warned to stay indoors, but the smoke in some areas has also seeped into
buildings.
 |
The front page of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Friday read: "Sydney chokes as state burns".
Hospital admissions have risen 25% in the past week said officials, with people reporting asthma and breathing problems. About five million people live in greater Sydney.
|
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affects golfers at Australian Open
Early on
Friday, the NSW capital ranked number 19 on the Air Visual global rankings of
cities with the worst air pollution - putting it ahead of Shanghai and Mumbai.
The smoke
has also affected towns closer to the fires for weeks. The state government
said on Thursday that the air pollution event was "the longest and most
widespread in our records".
Climate
change impact
Bushfires
are common in Australia, but this year's fire season is more intense and has
begun earlier than usual - something meteorologists say is exacerbated by
climate change.
Australia's
Bureau of Meteorology says that climate change has led to an increase in
extreme heat events and raised the severity of other natural disasters, such as
drought.
Last week,
the bureau noted that NSW had endured its driest spring season on record. It
also warned that Australia's coming summer was predicted to bring similar
conditions to last year's - the nation's hottest summer on record.
Australia
may see 50C days 'in decades'
Climate
emergency 'clear and unequivocal'
Official
figures have shown 2018 and 2017 were Australia's third and fourth-hottest
years on record respectively.
Public
anger
As the fires
rage on, the Australian government has been criticised over its efforts to
address climate change. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed accusations
linking the crisis to his government's policies.
Hundreds of
bushfire survivors and farmers converged on the nation's capital, Canberra,
this week in protest. One woman displayed the charred remains of her home
outside Parliament - on which she had written: "Morrison, your climate
crisis destroyed my home."
Last week
the UN reiterated that Australia is among seven G20 nations needing to do more
to meet their climate promises. The list also includes Brazil, Canada, Japan,
the Republic of Korea, South Africa and the US.
The UN has
previously noted that Australia is falling short of its Paris agreement
commitments to cut CO2 emissions.
Australia
has pledged to a 26-28% cut on its 2005 levels by 2030. The UN's
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that global emissions of CO2
need to decline by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 to keep temperature rise under
1.5C.
Final c
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