Bushfires NT impose 24-hour total fire ban this weekend

A total fire ban has been imposed across most of the Top End as temperatures soar to 35C, ahead of an unusually concerning spring outlook.

NT Fire and Rescue Palmerrston crew fighting the Bushfires at Coolalinga Pic Julianne Osborne

A total fire ban has been imposed across most of the Top End as temperatures reach 35C ahead of a predicted gruelling spring fire outlook.

Bushfires NT Chief Fire Control Officer and the Chief Fire Officer have declared a 24-hour fire ban for Sunday, September 8, across Darwin and Adelaide River regions.

This impacts Darwin, Batchelor and Adelaide River Emergency Response Areas, Litchfield Municipality and Coomalie Shire.

The fireys have warned that from midnight Sunday, no one is allowed to light or cause a fire in the open within that fire ban area.

The Top End was under a similar total fire ban for three days earlier in the week, with a number of grass and scrub fires breaking out across the greater Darwin area amid “extreme” fire risk conditions.

Bushfires NT responded to two deliberately lit fires, one at Adelaide River and one at Darwin River, on the same day. Picture: Supplied

As of Saturday afternoon there were 11 fire alerts on the incident map, including near Dundee Beach, Humpty Doo, Archer, Noonamah, Lake Bennett, Eva Valley, Adelaide River, Mary River, Nhulunbuy, Katherine, Beswick and at Mataranka.

The Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council and Bureau of Meteorology’s Spring fire outlook has also warned that the Territory faced an elevated fire risk this season, with predictions of “unusually high” temperatures mixing with drying vegetation.

The BOM reported that there would be above normal minimum and maximum temperatures across the NT along with short periods of strong, gusty winds.