East coast facing fire bans as winds, temperatures rise

Bushfires are still threatening large swaths of NSW and Queensland.

A firefighter tries to extinguish a blaze on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Picture: Lachie Millard

Bushfires are still threatening large swaths of NSW and Queensland, with total fire bans to remain in place for communities stretching from Batemans Bay to Mackay.

In Queensland, residents were ordered to leave the beachside town of Peregian Waters, near Noosa, for the third time in four months, as fire again threatened homes on Wednesday night.

More than 30 crews and five fire bombers were working to contain the blaze.

The Sunshine Motorway was closed in both directions and was likely to remain shut on Thursday morning.

Elsewhere in the state, fire crews have been using water-bombing aircraft on a large and fast-moving fire at Carneys Creek, in the Scenic Rim region.

An estimated 40 homes and 60 sheds have been destroyed in Queensland since August and about 203,000ha of land has been scorched since September.

The NSW Rural Fire Service has deployed 2300 firefighters across the state as it prepares to face an “enormous challenge” on Thursday, when searing temperatures and volatile winds combine to create “unpredictable and erratic” fire conditions.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned that the fire risk on Thursday and Saturday was “significant”.

“Not only are we going to experience very high temperatures on Thursday and Saturday but there’s the exceedingly concerning wind conditions,” she said.

“We’re going to have a number of wind fronts escalating the fuel, the fires burning, and the potential to have spot fires and embers travelling very long distances.”

RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warned of “erratic” fire behaviour after the Bureau of Meteorology said wind gusts could top more than 100km/h in some parts of the state. “The heat will start moving through NSW on Thursday and conditions will worsen on Saturday,” Mr Fitzsimmons said.

Residents in far western Sydney, southwest Sydney, the central coast and south coast have been warned of “extreme” fire danger. There were 100 fires burning across NSW on Wednesday evening, with more than half uncontained.

Parts of NSW, as well as the ACT, can expect temperatures in excess of 40C on Thursday.

Air quality across the Greater Sydney Basin is forecast to plummet to hazardous levels on Thursday afternoon as a result of the fires.