
— With AAP.
1. NSW faces ‘catastrophic fire risk’ after three people died in bushfires over the weekend.
NSW firefighters are continuing to battle bushfires throughout the state ahead of a catastrophic fire danger forecast for Tuesday for the Greater Sydney and Greater Hunter areas, including the Blue Mountains and Central Coast.
Over the weekend, the ferocious flames in northern NSW claimed three lives and destroyed at least 150 homes.
“We’ve got big population centres covered by that catastrophic fire danger,” RFS spokesman Anthony Clark told the ABC on Sunday.
“But also up on the north coast where we’ve simply got a lot of fires burning at the moment, those fires have got a real potential to run and impact on lives and properties on Tuesday.
“So the risk is very real.”
The bushfire crisis is gripping NSW as firefighters prepare for conditions to get even more dangerous tomorrow. @Gabrielle_Boyle @gracefitz_9 @vella_lara #9News pic.twitter.com/TUGTnuAHLz
— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) November 10, 2019
Mr Clark said that around the Sydney area, they were “really concerned” about the urban fringe.
“Built-up areas where people live such as the northern suburbs of Sydney, up through the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, the Sutherland Shire – if you’re living anywhere near the bush, you are at risk,” he said.
The Bureau of Meteorology has also predicted to see severe and extreme fire danger for other large areas of the state, including the North Coast, Central Ranges and the Far South Coast.
A statewide total fire ban has been declared for Monday and Tuesday.