Sydney in ‘catastrophic’ danger for first time since ratings introduced

The greater Sydney region will be under “catastrophic” fire danger on Tuesday.

NSW Rural Fire Service volunteer Bob Kneipp, is seen after successfully defending a property in Torrington, near Glen Innes, Sunday. Picture: AAP

The greater Sydney region will be under “catastrophic” fire danger on Tuesday for the first time since new fire ratings were introduced a decade ago, with other regions typically prone to severe storms and flooding in November bracing for a nightmarish week of bushfires.

The NSW Rural Fire Service said “catastrophic” fire danger was forecast for the greater Sydney and greater Hunter regions — including the Blue Mountains and the central coast — on Tuesday because of worsening conditions.

A statewide total fire ban has been declared for all areas of NSW on Monday and Tuesday and at least 30 schools in high-risk areas will be closed. “High temperatures, strong winds and low humidity are forecast, making conditions dangerous,” the RFS said in a statement.

“Catastrophic is the highest level of bushfire danger. Homes are not designed to withstand a fire under these conditions. If a fire starts and takes hold during catastrophic fire danger conditions, lives and homes will be at risk.”

It is the first time since new fire danger ratings were introduced in 2009 that a catastrophic fire danger has been forecast for Sydney.

Fire service officials acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the fires in NSW and Queensland, which follow 18 months of drought conditions in coastal regions including the Sunshine Coast, Yeppoon on Queensland’s central coast and the Clarence Valley near Grafton, NSW.

Meteorologist Dean Narramore said some areas were “missing half a metre worth of rain” for the year, which had led to excessively dry conditions, even in rainforests. “We’ve had these persis­tent westerly winds over the last few months, dragging the really dry continental air right across to the coast and that’s pushed any moisture away from the coast as well,” Mr Narramore told The Australian. “Much of the land area has really dried out and the fuel load is very combustible, so that means once we get these winds and dry lightning storms, fires start.”

He said the cause was in part a record positive Indian Ocean Dipole that was pushing all the moisture that normally brought rain to Australia over Africa instead.

“The other thing that’s causing the issue at the moment is the cold front moving through southern Australia. They’re a lot further north than they normally are at this time of year,” Mr Narramore said. “For southeast Queensland, it’s ­almost like an August pattern but in November and there’s a lot more heat around the continent as well.”

Over coming days, temperatures will revert back to the high 30s, winds will pick up and a high-pressure ridge coming in from the west will bring more dry air.

“NSW is looking really bad on Tuesday, then on Wednesday when the surface trough and front moves through, there’ll be a wind change that will drag the hot, dry west to southwesterly winds over the land towards the coast,” he said. “It’s going to lead to erratic and dangerous fire behaviour during the day on Wednesday.”

NSW RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said firefighters’ odds of containing the almost 40 out-of-control blazes before Tuesday were “not very good”.

“What we are really going to be focusing on is what’s in the path of those existing fires to ensure we can work out what we need to do to try to protect those communities on that day,” Mr Rogers said.

“The conditions that we are facing are going to be really dire conditions. Very hot. Really dry. Strong westerly winds.”

Queensland is facing the same danger and there are also concerns for Western Australia, where ­temperatures could hit 40C on Tuesday.

Additional reporting: AAP