Australia declare state of emergency in New South Wales after unprecedented bushfires

Australian authorities on Thursday declared a seven-day state of emergency in New South Wales as a record heatwave fanned the bushfires raging across the region. The extreme weather conditions have also lead the doctors to label the smoke haze surrounding Sydney as a Public Health Emergency. 

Public Health Emergency

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state of emergency was due to catastrophic weather conditions. He also said that the biggest concern over the next few days is the unpredictability with extreme wind conditions and extremely hot temperatures. 

New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said that five strike teams with 100 people each were on standby to deploy the most dangerous fires, given the enormity of some of these fire complexities and several of the forecast weather conditions that are expected to unfold throughout today. 

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Some 100 fires have been burning since weeks in the country’s most populous state with around 2000 firefighters battling blazes with support of teams from the United States, Canada, and the  Australian Defence forces.

Half of the fires are still uncontained, including ‘mega blaze’ ringing Sydney and covering Australia’s biggest city in a haze of toxic smoke. The fires have damaged at least three million hectares (7.4 million acres) of land across Australia in recent months charring more than 800 homes. 

Read: Australia: Firefighters Issues Warning After Bushfire Spread Beyond Containment

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On Tuesday, the country experienced its hottest day with the average temperature across the country reaching 40.9-degree Celcius. The temperatures are expected to soar even higher as heatwave conditions embrace most of the country.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said the average temperature across the country of 40.9 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit) Tuesday beat the record of 40.3 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) from Jan. 7, 2013. The weather bureau said temperatures in southern and central Australia today may reach between 8 and 16 degrees higher than normal.

On Wednesday temperatures soared to 47.7 Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) in Birdsville, Queensland, 46.9 Celsius (116 Fahrenheit) in Mandora, Western Australia and similar levels in southern and central Australia.