Sydney woke up to a thick blanket of smoke over the city on Tuesday as New South Wales headed into the first of two “tough days” this week, with temperatures likely to rise to the 40s and little-to-no rainfall forecast.
Most of the state’s east coast was under severe or very high fire danger ratings, with more than 50 bushfires burning, of which 28 remained uncontained.
All were at “advice” level on Tuesday morning, with more than 1,300 firefighters on the ground.
Six lives and 530 homes have been lost since NSW bushfire season hit, with more than 420 homes destroyed in the past fortnight alone.
“More than 1,300 firefighters continue work on these fires tonight, ahead of forecast hot, dry and windy conditions tomorrow,” the Rural Fire Service said.
Winds dragged smoke from a huge fire at Gospers Mountain north-west of Sydney over the city on Tuesday morning, and the haze was not likely to dissipate until a southerly change in the afternoon.
The air quality rating was poor and people with asthma or other breathing issues were warned to stay indoors, avoid outdoor exercise and seek medical advice as needed.
Tuesday and Thursday would be “tough days” for NSW, Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner Rob Rogers warned.
Parts of the state under severe fire danger on Tuesday included Greater Sydney, Greater Hunter, Illawarra/Shoalhaven, Southern Ranges and Central Ranges fire regions. These regions, along with the Northern Slopes and North Western regions, were also under a total fire ban.
Much of the rest of eastern NSW and the Australian Capital Territory were under very high fire danger. Some 1.6m hectares of land have been burnt so far – more than the entire 1993-94 bushfire season.
On Monday firefighters were battling a firefront of some 6,000km, the equivalent distance of a return Sydney-Perth trip.
Rogers said firefighters were “singularly focused” on preventing further loss of life and property and warned people to stay alert. “Even though it’s not a catastrophic danger it’s still going to be bad fire days,” he said.
He urged anyone who had not yet been affected by fires to “please use this as a wake-up call”, warning them to take steps including cleaning out gutters and having a fire safety plan in place.
A DC10 air tanker had been drafted in from North America, he said, to help drop up to 38,000 litres of water and retardant on blazes, and efforts would be bolstered by help from New Zealand firefighters.
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, asked everyone to “maintain their vigilance”.