Australia fires: Crews battle blazes across NSW and Queensland | CNN

Australia fires: Crews battle blazes across NSW and Queensland

Brett McKeehan

By Ben Westcott and Brett McKeehan, CNN

Updated 8:11 AM EST, Tue November 12, 2019

A firefighter works as a bushfire, believed to have been sparked by a lightning strike that has ravaged an area of over 2,000 hectares in northern New South Wales state, burns in Port Macquarie on November 2, 2019. - Hundreds of koalas are feared to have burned to death in an out-of-control bushfire on Australia's east coast, wildlife authorities said October 30.

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'Unprecedented' bushfires rage across Australia

1:42 • Source: CNN

A firefighter works as a bushfire, believed to have been sparked by a lightning strike that has ravaged an area of over 2,000 hectares in northern New South Wales state, burns in Port Macquarie on November 2, 2019. - Hundreds of koalas are feared to have burned to death in an out-of-control bushfire on Australia's east coast, wildlife authorities said October 30.

'Unprecedented' bushfires rage across Australia

1:42

What we're covering here

Raging blazes: Firefighters across Australia are battling blazes that could become the worst seen in the country for decades. Dry conditions and strong winds could provide perfect conditions for dozens of fires to spread further today.
State of emergency: The states of Queensland and New South Wales have both declared a state of emergency. Sydney is at especially high risk. In some fire-affected rural areas, the state’s fire service says it is already “too late to leave.”
Casualties: Three people have been killed and more than 100 homes lost over the past week. An estimated 350 koalas have also died.

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Our live coverage of the Australian wildfires has ended, but you can read more here.

Here's what happened with the Australia wildfires today

Locals watch fires near farmland in the regional center of Nana Glen, about 600 kilometers (372 miles) north of Sydney, on November 12.

Locals watch fires near farmland in the regional center of Nana Glen, about 600 kilometers (372 miles) north of Sydney, on November 12.

William West/AFP via Getty Images

Firefighters are still battling at least 12 emergency-level blazes across New South Wales after a day of “catastrophic” fire risk in heavily populated parts of the state.

An emergency warning is issued when a fire is imminently threatening a town or community or has broken through containment lines.

In total there are 85 fires burning across New South Wales, half of which are out of control.

A number of firefighters have been injured on the front lines, including one emergency worker who suffered a fractured arm and ribs.

So far, major population centers appear to be mostly unscathed. There are reports of injuries and property damage, but authorities have not confirmed the exact number.

New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the danger wasn’t over yet.

“We still need to remain vigilant. We’ve been dealing with fires up the north coast, we’ve been dealing with new fires down around other parts of NSW,” he said.

“We’ve still got many hours yet of these strong, dry winds.”

Blazes have destroyed three times more land in New South Wales than entire fire season last year

A bushfire burns outside a property near Taree, 350km north of Sydney on November 12.

A bushfire burns outside a property near Taree, 350km north of Sydney on November 12.

Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images

New South Wales is “entering uncharted territory” with fire emergencies all across the coast of Australia’s most populous state, Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said in a speech to parliament on Tuesday.

“What we’ve burnt through so far this bushfire season, and we haven’t even reached summer … is actually three times the amount we burnt in the total period of last season,” he said.

“This is a very real emerging disaster which we need to take on and consider as being something that this state may not have ever seen before.”

Where are most of the fires burning right now?

Although a lot of attention today has been focused on the New South Wales capital of Sydney, so far most of the serious blazes have been in the state’s northeast.

There are 12 emergency fires burning in the state, with only a few minor blazes reaching the outskirts of Sydney’s suburbs.

A catastrophic fire warning is still in force for the Sydney region due to dangerously dry and windy conditions.

Firefighter suffers suspected heart attack, at least 12 emergency fires still burning

A bushfire burns outside a property near Taree, 350km north of Sydney on November 12.

A bushfire burns outside a property near Taree, 350km north of Sydney on November 12.

Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images

A firefighter has suffered a suspected heart attack while battling blazes in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

There are still at least 12 emergency fires burning in NSW as of Tuesday afternoon local time, out of a total 78 blazes across the entire state.

An emergency warning is issued when a fire is imminently threatening a town or community or has broken through containment lines.

“We simply can’t rest easy at this stage – we’ve got many hours left yet,” Fitzsimmons said.

He added that while the situation was complicated in the northeast of the state, fires around the suburbs of Sydney had mostly been contained.

“We’ve had a number of fires in and around the Sydney basin area but the collective efforts of firefighters have meant that they’ve been able to get on top of those fires and bring them under control very quickly,” he said.

A 9-year-old boy deliberately lit a small grass fire, police say

Wild fires are raging across New South Wales – but in a town south of Sydney, a nine-year-old allegedly lit a small blaze, CNN affiliate 9 News reported.

The boy reportedly set a small grass fire using a gas blowtorch on Tuesday in Worrigee, south of Sydney. Police tracked down the boy – who had been hanging out with a group of other children – and gave him a warning.

But the boy wasn’t the only one to intentionally set fires, despite New South Wales’ total fire ban.

Yesterday, a 27-year-old man allegedly lit a small campfire to boil water for cups of tea. He’s been fined 2,200 Australian dollars (around $1,500).

In western Sydney, another man was reportedly caught burning fence post in a barbecue – which led to a secondary blaze. That man has been hit with an infringement notice.

How much danger is Sydney actually in?

The state of New South Wales is home to Sydney, Australia’s most populous city.

But as fires rage around New South Wales, how much danger are Sydneysiders actually in?

Although wildfires have broken out in two of Sydney’s northern suburbs, most parts of the city are not currently in immediate danger.

But the situation can change fast. The state’s fire service is still forecasting “catastrophic fire danger” for greater Sydney – the highest level of bush fire danger.

Check here for the fire service’s latest advice.

Emergency bushfire breaks out in Sydney's northern suburbs

A small but out-of-control fire has broken out in the northern suburbs of Sydney, with emergency services saying it is “spreading quickly.”

It is the closest bushfire to the heart of Australia’s largest city with most of the major blazes to the north of Sydney.

NSW Rural Fire Services said that residents were advised to not leave their properties and they were working to contain the fire in South Turramurra.

Two schools destroyed, employee killed, in wildfires

A National Parks and Wildlife crew member fights flames in regional New South Wales on Tuesday.

A National Parks and Wildlife crew member fights flames in regional New South Wales on Tuesday.

Darren Pateman/AAP Images via AP

Two public schools have been destroyed in the New South Wales wildfires, the state’s Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education Geoff Lee said in state parliament on Tuesday.

Lee confirmed that an employee of a skills college had also been killed in the blazes, although he didn’t elaborate further.

Mass school closures were announced on Tuesday amid worsening fire conditions across NSW. In total, almost 600 schools and colleges were shut across the state.

Nine other schools were evacuated on Tuesday as fires approached.

Lee didn’t say whether the two schools had been destroyed on Tuesday or in earlier fires, which have been ravaging the state this month.

Three people have been killed in the fires and at least 100 homes destroyed so far.

Protests highlight climate change's role in November bushfires

As emergency services struggle to contain dozens of fires across eastern Australia, political battles over the blazes are also raging across the country.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the New South Wales parliament this morning to call for work to support the firefighters and more action to contain climate change.

Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese was heckled by local residents when he said he wouldn’t “politicize” the fires, after a question on how much climate change was to blame for the current crisis.

One of New South Wales’ largest newspapers, the Sydney Morning Herald, published an editorial this morning titled “Talking about climate change is not an insult to bushfire victims.”

But the government’s response has so far focused primarily on the current crisis and avoided discussion on what role climate change has played in the fires.

Michael McCormack, Deputy Prime Minister in Australia’s Liberal-National coalition government, slammed people who raised climate change in relation to the fires as “raving inner city lunatics.”

Fires and habitat loss to put koala populations under pressure

The widespread bushfires across northern New South Wales will put the local population of koalas under serious pressure, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary senior vet Michael Pyne told CNN-affiliate Seven News.

Pyne said they had seen a number of koalas already come through the sanctuary, some with very serious burns to their feet.

“The koalas often get to the top of the trees and … when the koalas return to the ground that’s when they get the nasty burns,” Pyne said.

But he said the real danger was the combination of the destructive fires and the subsequent loss of habitat, which would put the already-threatened species under even more pressure.

“What we see here in the hospital is just tip of the iceberg of course. Sadly a lot of koalas don’t escape the fires,” he said.

“(And) the koalas that are remaining out there have very little food to go back to.”

Nine schools evacuated after bushfires worsen across New South Wales

A car drives as a bushfire burns out of control in Hillville road near Taree, 350km north of Sydney on November 12.

A car drives as a bushfire burns out of control in Hillville road near Taree, 350km north of Sydney on November 12.

Peter Parks/AFP

Eight primary schools and one high school have been evacuated across New South Wales as the fire conditions worsen across the state today.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said they were trying to provide as much support as possible to parents and students.

“As these conditions worsen and new fires do begin we listen to the Rural Fire Service and we’re evacuating these nine schools,” she said.

The number of out-of-control fires across NSW has grown to 40, with 71 fires in total, NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters this afternoon.

“We’ve just got to keep in mind that the afternoon is developing, we’ve still got many hours to go yet of today, and into this evening the conditions are expected to get worse,” he said.

He added that the fires were getting closer to population centers.

The fire smoke is so thick you can't see any land from a plane

From CNN's Amanda Jackson

An airplane passenger flying through New South Wales tweeted a video of the view in the air – and no land can be seen through the heavy blanket of smoke.

The passenger had been flying from Coffs Harbour south to Sydney on Monday, and flew over the bush fires burning in the state.

“Planet Earth was MIA for 500km of smoke (not clouds)! This is when the plane levelled out, couldn’t see any land!,” he tweeted.

The video shows the plane flying over a layer dark grey smoke that stretches far into the horizon, so dense and thick nothing below can be seen.

Photos show smoke creeping in over 24 hours

Luke Marvell, a resident in New South Wales, shared photos on Instagram showing the progression of smoke in front of his home.

In one photo on Monday, the air is hazy, but there is still daylight and limited visibility.

Luke Marvell/Instagram

Another photo from today shows the visibility dramatically worsened, with heavy dark smoke hanging in the air. You can barely see anything past the fence around his home.

“The difference of 24 hours, stay safe out there everyone!” Marvell wrote.

Luke Marvell/Instagram

Seven emergency fire warnings across New South Wales so far

Since this morning, seven separate emergency fire warnings have been issued across the Australian state of New South Wales.

An emergency warning is issued when a fire is imminently threatening a town or community or has broken through fire fighters’ containment lines.

In some cases, by the time the emergency warning is issued, it is too late to leave.

Gusts of up to 90 kilometers per hour (55 mph) are helping to push fires through containment lines and towards towns and cities.

The major population centers of Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie are at the heart of the seven emergency warnings, as well as many other small communities.

Smoke sparks air warnings in New South Wales and Queensland

Smoke covers the city of Sydney at sunrise on November 12 in Sydney.

Smoke covers the city of Sydney at sunrise on November 12 in Sydney.

Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

It’s a rare day when both Sydney and Beijing have the same levels of air pollution.

But smoke and haze from the massive bushfires burning across New South Wales and Queensland have caused authorities to issue warnings about air quality.

Just after midday in Australia on Tuesday, parts of Sydney were ranking 153 on the Air Quality Index, or “unhealthy” levels. China’s famously-polluted capital has a rating of 142 today. The higher the ranking, the worse the air.

On Monday, NSW Health Director of Environmental Health Dr Richard Broome warned people with existing conditions like asthma or angina to avoid going outside.

“Smoke from fires on the Mid-North Coast is being blown south and we’re expecting poor air quality this afternoon,” said Broome.

“Smoke contains fine particles that can affect people’s health.”

The smoke from Australia's "most dangerous bushfire week ever" can be seen from space

With more than 100 fires burning in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland, the smoke cloud is so significant it can be seen from space.

In an image released by US space agency NASA overnight, the smoke can be seen over the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

“Strong westerly winds fanned the flames and carried smoke several hundred kilometers out to sea,” the agency said in a statement.

Both New South Wales and Queensland have declared a state of emergency around the fires, dozens of which burned uncontrolled on Tuesday.

“(We) will be providing every financial and operational level of support to the rural fire service to get us through what potentially could be the most dangerous bush fire week this nation has ever seen,” NSW Minister for Emergency Services David Elliot said on Sunday.

A natural-color image of the smoke, which was acquired on NASA’s Terra satellite on November 11.

A natural-color image of the smoke, which was acquired on NASA’s Terra satellite on November 11.

NASA

Here's what it looks like in Australia

Hundreds of thousands of Australians awoke to smoke and haze on Tuesday, as dozens of fires continue to burn in New South Wales and Queensland.

The haze made for a smoky sunrise in the NSW city of Newcastle, resident Tim Hooper wrote on Instagram.

As day dawned, the NSW town of Port Macquarie was covered in thick gray smoke.

Resident Andrew Morrow posted a photo on Instagram and wrote: “Going to be a long day here.”

Two tourists were trapped by smoke and fire on a highway

From CNN's Amanda Jackson

Two British tourists traveling in Australia were caught in the wildfires from Sunday night to Monday morning.

Eleanor Cohen and Corey Lawes were traveling from Brisbane to Sydney when they became stuck on a highway, trapped by smoke and fire.

Cohen told CNN that police and firefighters arrived and told them to evacuate to the next town. The couple is safe and heading to Sydney today.

“We’re so lucky I didn’t have to evacuate from a house, not knowing what I would be coming back to,” Cohen said. “I really feel for those who were in that situation. So sad.”

Australia Prime Minister: This is "the calm before the storm"

From CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey

Fire damage on November 11, 2019, in Glen Innes, Australia.

Fire damage on November 11, 2019, in Glen Innes, Australia.

Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

Australia is seeing “the calm before the storm” as dozens of wildfires continue to burn, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday while speaking on 2GB radio.

Morrison said local authorities are “well prepared” and on “high alert” to respond to the fires, but added the national army is poised to assist “at a moment’s notice.”

“I think the whole team in New South Wales are on this and we’re just there to support them in every way we can,” he said.

He added: “Let’s hope today is a boring day. I really just want to assure people that everything that can be done is being done. Nature will throw some curveballs today, no doubt, and they’ll have to respond.”

Morrison also urged Australians to act cautiously and with “common sense.”

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