Bushfire fears as south-eastern Australia swelters through record heat

‘Emergency services say NSW and ACT ‘extremely vulnerable’ to bushfires as temperatures set to exceed 33C in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide’

A boy jumps from the rocks at north Bondi in
 Sydney on Tuesday as a blast of summer
 heat hit Australia’s south-east.

Emergency services in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory have predicted a worse than usual bushfire season, as this week’s heatwave breaks December records in south-eastern Australia.

The NSW Rural Fire Service warned that drier than average conditions made NSW “extremely vulnerable” to bushfires this summer, while fire bans were declared in parts of NSW, Victoria and South Australia for Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Tuesday afternoon residents in Neath and Abermain, near Cessnock in the NSW Hunter Valley, were warned to take shelter as 80 firefighters assisted by water-dropping aircraft fought two fires in the area.

Residents in several streets were told it was too late to leave their homes. Others were advised it might not be safe to return home.

Read The Guardian story - “Bushfire fears as south-eastern Australia swelters through record heat.”