Aircraft fight Sydney blaze as Australians take shelter from intense bushfires

A Tuncurry fire crew member fights part of the Hillville bushfire south of Taree, in the Mid North Coast region of NSW, Australia, November 12, 2019. AAP Image

SYDNEY (Reuters): Tens of thousands of Australians took shelter on Tuesday after authorities warned it was too late for them to leave their homes as bushfires raged across a vast area of the country’s east coast and shrouded Sydney in smoke.

An aircraft was diverted to drop fire retardants on emergency bushfires threatening homes in Sydney’s northern suburbs. Television footage showed some of the retardant had overshot the blaze, colouring suburban houses and vehicles pink and red.

Officials were responding to more than a dozen emergency warnings in New South Wales (NSW), each covering several communities, by evening as more than half the 85 fires across the state burned uncontrolled amid “catastrophic” conditions.

“We need people to remain vigilant,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters in Sydney.

“The last thing we can afford is for people to become complacent or be relaxed simply because we’re getting towards end of the day. There are many hours yet of high risk to deal with.”

Fitzsimmons said in a previous update a firefighter battling a blaze had suffered a heart attack, although his condition was unknown.

Bushfires are a common and deadly threat in Australia’s hot, dry summers but the ferocity and early arrival of this year’s outbreak in the southern hemisphere spring has caught many by surprise.

Blazes have been spurred by extremely dry conditions after three years of drought in parts of NSW and Queensland, which experts say has been exacerbated by climate change.

The current outbreak, which killed three people and destroyed more than 150 homes at the weekend, has been fanned by an unprecedented combination of high temperatures and strong winds.

Most of the emergency warnings issued by authorities on Tuesday, including the South Turramurra fire 20 km (12 miles) north of central Sydney, told affected residents they must seek cover and that it was too late to flee their homes.