‘Worst day' of Canberra's Namadgi bushfire arrives, sparking memories of 2003 firestorm

The Orroral Valley bushfire in the Namadgi National Park has now burned one-eighth of the ACT, but the fire front has been kept away from Canberra

The blaze seen this morning from Williamsdale,
one of several villages that may be hit today.

The out-of-control fire was downgraded to watch and act level overnight but is expected to intensify and spread rapidly today.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said this week the blaze posed the greatest risk to Canberra since the deadly 2003 bushfires.

Today is expected to be the "worst day".

"The combination of extreme heat, wind and a dry landscape will place suburbs in Canberra's south at risk," Mr Barr said yesterday.

Read the ABC News story - “‘Worst day' of Canberra's Namadgi bushfire arrives, sparking memories of 2003 firestorm.”

NSW mayor slams deputy PM’s 'insulting' climate change attack during bushfires

A northern NSW mayor whose home was severely damaged by a bushfire that killed two people has slammed Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack for his "insulting" climate change comments. 

Michael McCormack meets Queensland Fire and
 Emergency Services crew members on Sunday.

On Monday, Mr McCormack launched an attack against the "disgraceful, disgusting" behaviour of people who linked climate change to the bushfires in NSW and Queensland.

"We've had fires in Australia since time began, and what people need now is sympathy, understanding, help and shelter ... They don't need the ravings of some pure, enlightened and woke capital city greenies at this time," he told ABC. 

Read the SBS News story - “NSW mayor slams deputy PM’s 'insulting' climate change attack during bushfires.”

‘Like a hell': Sunshine Coast locals see suburban street become a firestorm

In the eerie early hours of Monday morning, as the wind changed and the bushfire near Peregian Springs on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast doubled back towards where it was started, locals watched the suburban streets become “like a firestorm”.

There are 80 bushfires burning across Queensland and
 more than 50 across NSW. A fire in the northern NSW
town of Drake on Monday.

“The sky was orange and no one was here,” said Mike Dekker, who stayed behind with a neighbour, defying advice to leave, to defend their homes.

“This was honestly, not even exaggerating, like a hell, especially with those embers. The fire is one thing, with the firefighters extinguishing it, but the embers, they were everywhere. There was this massive ember rain. Watching them go onto the roof, it was scary.”

Authorities were still assessing the damage at Peregian and the fire was still burning dangerously on Tuesday, though the immediate threat had shifted to the north. Residents of Marcus Beach joined hundreds of others evacuated to nearby Noosa Heads.

Read the story from The Guardian by Ben Smee  - “‘Like a hell': Sunshine Coast locals see suburban street become a firestorm.” 

Worst fire conditions in 12 months feared for this weekend

Extreme heat and high winds forecast for this weekend could see Victoria face its worst bushfire conditions in 12 months.

Authorities are bracing for wind gusts topping 100km/h ripping across the state's parched bushland over two days that could hit 35 degrees.

“We have had hot days, and we have had windy days so far this season,” Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley said. “We haven’t had hot and windy.

“It’s extremely dry. We have not experienced serious rain across the state for about 40 days. Gardens are dry, the bush is dry, grasses are dry.

Read Liam Mannix’s story from The Age - “Worst fire conditions in 12 months feared for this weekend.”

Hume Highway cut by bushfire, temperature records tumble as east coast swelters

The main highway between Sydney and Canberra was cut by a bushfire and parts of New South Wales reached 40 degrees Celsius in September for the first time on record.

The grassfire at Paddys River near Wingello
 is causing lengthy traffic delays

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) said the blaze at Paddy's River, near Wingello, crossed the highway but the threat to property had eased. It was downgraded to Advice level at 6:00pm.

After several hours of closure about 160 kilometres west of Sydney and east of Canberra, the Hume Highway has reopened.

Meanwhile, temperature records are being broken as the east coast swelters through a heatwave.

In Sydney's west, it was 36.4C at Richmond, and records were set in other parts of the state.

Read Sarah Hawke’s ABC News story - “Hume Highway cut by bushfire, temperature records tumble as east coast swelters.”

Largest fire in Los Angeles' history burns on city's outskirts, homes evacuated

The city of Los Angeles is under siege from a bushfire which the city's mayor has described as the largest in its history.

A plane makes a drop on a hillside in Sun Valley
neighbourhood, north of Los Angeles on Saturday.

The fire, which is burning in the La Tuna area in the north-east of the city, has consumed about 2000 hectares of brush in the San Fernando Valley's Verdugo Mountains.

By late on Saturday three homes had been lost and another 700 homes had been evacuated, roughly 550 of them from the Burbank and Glendale areas, which are adjacent to the fire.

The Burbank neighbourhood is also home to three of the city's biggest film studios, Universal, Warner Bros and Disney.

Read Michael Idato’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Largest fire in Los Angeles' history burns on city's outskirts, homes evacuated.”

(Los Angeles biggest ever wildfire (bushfire), unprecedented rainfall in Houston, and 1,200 people die, and the lives of some 40 million others turned upside down, by torrential rain in northern India, southern Nepal, northern Bangladesh and southern Pakistan - surely it is time the world stood as one recognising and acknowledging climate change - Robert McLean)

Largest fire in Los Angeles' history burns on city's outskirts, homes evacuated

The city of Los Angeles is under siege from a bushfire which the city's mayor has described as the largest in its history.

A crew with Cal Fire battles a brushfire on
the hillside in Burbank, California, on Saturday. 

The fire, which is burning in the La Tuna area in the north-east of the city, has consumed about 2000 hectares of brush in the San Fernando Valley's Verdugo Mountains.

Only 10 per cent of the fire is contained, officials say.

Around 700 homes have been evacuated, roughly 550 of them from the Burbank and Glendale areas, which are adjacent to the fire.

Read Michael Idato’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Largest fire in Los Angeles' history burns on city's outskirts, homes evacuated.”