Unprecedented bush fires burning in NSW, page-2

We have got the worst of our fire season still ahead of us. We're not even in summer yet.'

NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons reiterated that the forecast for next week – Tuesday in particular – was dire, and that the outlook for the summer beyond was potentially catastrophic. He said the long-running drought in NSW had left the state tinder-dry and dangerously flammable.

Not only is it about next week, but, unfortunately, the forecast for the balance of the season continues to be driven by above-normal temperatures, below-average rainfall, to dominate over the coming months. If you put that across this extremely drought-stricken landscape, where you have no moisture in the ground ... a flammability of the fuel which is seeing extraordinary fire behaviour, fire spreading and burning very intensely, very aggressively … with spot fire activity doubling or tripling what would normally be expected in the conditions that we have been experiencing.

The flammability, the lack of moisture in the vegetation, is making it so susceptible to ignition, that many embers are leading well ahead of the main fire front, taking hold, starting fires, and rapidly accelerating the movement of fire across the landscape and into different communities.

The risk is real, the risk is here, the consequences are absolutely apparent and evident over the last few weeks and particularly highlighted in the last 24 hours. We have got the worst of our fire season still ahead of us. We’re not even in summer yet.

This is what climate change looks like