'Like nothing we've ever seen before': Expert issues chilling bushfire warning and fire boss tells Sydney to brace for blazes to hit the city's suburbs causing huge losses

  • Six people have died in NSW this season, more than 680 homes have been lost
  • December and January will bring biggest bushfire threats due to the lack of rain 
  • Sydney will see unprecedented losses, fire and health issues with smoke
  • Experts say fires in NSW are 'off the scale' and 'nothing like we've seen before'
  • Smoke cover in Sydney is set to clear on Wednesday thanks to a strong southerly

Sydney residents need to brace themselves for 'unprecedented losses' as the bushfires on the city's doorstep breach its suburbs later this summer, an ex-fire chief warns.

Greg Mullins, who was Fire and Rescue NSW commissioner from 2003 to 2017, says Sydney will likely experience devastation greater than 1994, when hundreds of suburban homes were lost.

'The worst is to come because it's going to get hotter and drier and there's no significant rain in the outlooks,' Mr Mullins told AAP.

'We've got massive fires that are too big to put out without rain. They are going to get bigger and they are going to come into Sydney suburbs, the South Coast, the Central Coast.'

Six lives have been lost in NSW so far this bushfire season while more than 680 homes have been destroyed.

Mr Kean declared NSW bushfires were linked to climate change

Six lives have been lost in NSW so far this bushfire season while more than 680 homes have been destroyed

Mr Mullins said that was three times the previous record number of homes lost, with destruction this year so far confined to regional areas.

'Formerly all of our big losses have been places like the Blue Mountains, Sutherland, Warringah and Lane Cove,' he warned.

'The fires haven't even reached Sydney suburbs yet. People need to brace themselves.

'They are going to see unprecedented losses, unprecedented fire, health issues with smoke, heatwaves and the science is in - this is all underpinned by a warming climate.'

Some 225 homes and other buildings were destroyed in the summer of 1993-94, when four people were killed. The most significant losses were in the Sydney region.

Head of the Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires Ross Bradstock said the fires in northern NSW are 'off the scale' and 'nothing like we've seen before'.

'So far, the losses have not been as high as Black Saturday and Ash Wednesday, but both of those events were in February,' he told The Australian.

'It's shaping up to be one of the worst fire seasons in Australia's history.'

Professor Bradstock said December and January are set to bring the biggest bushfire threats due to the lack of rain forecast and the 'sheer size and number of fires'. 

More than two million hectares of land has been burned to date this season and there are more than 80 fires currently raging including a so-called megafire northwest of Sydney.

The NSW Environment Department said heavy smoke lingering in Sydney is expected to clear on Wednesday thanks to a 'strong southerly'

The NSW Environment Department said heavy smoke lingering in Sydney is expected to clear on Wednesday thanks to a 'strong southerly' 

Sydney's levels of pollution on Tuesday reached the equivalent of smoking 10 cigarettes

Sydney's levels of pollution on Tuesday reached the equivalent of smoking 10 cigarettes

There were almost 3000 firefighters on the ground across NSW on Tuesday supported by water-bombing aircraft.

Mr Mullins is worried how volunteers will cope when the weather heats up even more in January and February.

'Everyone is getting pretty worn out and, in my experience, that's where all the bad stuff happens,' he said.

'The sheer scale of these fires - we haven't had this before. We haven't had these losses, we haven't had them at this time of year, they haven't been this big. We're really up against it.'

Mr Mullins took aim at Prime Minister Scott Morrison for failing to co-ordinate with current fire chiefs and not spending more on fire-fighting aircraft.

Canberra has 'dropped the ball entirely on emissions reductions', the Climate Council member said. 

The NSW Environment Department said heavy smoke lingering in Sydney is expected to clear on Wednesday thanks to a 'strong southerly'.

But doctors have warned people can still suffer long-term health impacts from breathing in the 'toxic' layer of smog. 

Sydney's levels of pollution on Tuesday reached the equivalent of smoking 10 cigarettes.

Macquarie Park in Sydney's northwest suffered through the worst air quality in New South Wales, with a rating of 2214; anything above 200 PM2.5 is considered hazardous. 

Meanwhile air quality in Sydney's southwest was more than five times worse than the 'hazardous' level.

This map shows the fires currently burning across New South Wales and pushing smoke into the Sydney basin

Meanwhile on Wednesday, NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean declared Australia must stop making climate change a matter of religion and instead make it a matter of science.

Mr Kean held firm on his stance NSW bushfires were linked to climate change, just moments after coalition frontbench colleague Sarah Mitchell said the debate around what caused bushfires was 'philosophical'.

'We've got to stop making climate change a matter of religion and we've got to start making it a matter of science and the science says that we need to reduce the impact of global warming by two degrees and in order to do that we need to get to net-zero emissions by 2050,' Mr Kean told ABC Radio.

'This should be a debate of science, this should not be a philosophical debate ... the majority of scientific opinion is very clear on this fact.

'We need to reduce global warming by two degrees the only way we can do that is by reducing our carbon emissions.' 

Mr Kean said this year is on track to be the second warmest year, after NSW experienced its hottest year on record in 2018.

'The scientists have been predicting for decades that climate change will result in more extreme weather events,' Mr Kean said.

'Hotter days, less rain, more drought, worse air quality, that is what the scientists have told us climate change looks like.

'I mean, this is climate change - if this is not climate change then what the hell's going to happen when it does hit?'

A firefighter conducts back-burning measures to secure residential areas from encroaching bushfires in the Central Coast, some 90 kilometres north of Sydney on December 10

A firefighter conducts back-burning measures to secure residential areas from encroaching bushfires in the Central Coast, some 90 kilometres north of Sydney on December 10 

Bushfires have already destroyed 724 homes and burnt out 2.7 million hectares

The fire danger remains elevated across large chunks of NSW despite a southerly wind change that brought temperatures down as it swept up the coast.

The Rural Fire Service, meanwhile, has confirmed more than 720 homes have been destroyed over the fire season.

'Unfortunately the number of homes destroyed in this fire season continues to rise - now 724 homes confirmed lost. 2.7 million hectares burnt,' RFS deputy commissioner Rob Rogers said on Twitter on Wednesday.

Firefighters have also expressed concerns about the impact the southerly change could have on Wednesday on fire grounds surrounding Sydney.

Temperatures soared in NSW on Tuesday, with hazardous bushfire smoke pollution blanketing much of the state.

There were almost 90 fires burning across NSW, with 40 uncontained.

The Bureau of Meteorology says although conditions have eased, the smoke will continue to linger on Wednesday and the next few days.

Smoke across the Sydney basin was so thick at one point on Tuesday it was deemed 11 times poorer than typically 'hazardous' levels.

Air quality was on Wednesday morning deemed 'hazardous' across Sydney's east, southwest and northwest, despite improved visibility.

'We are expecting (the smoke) to continue over the next few days ... with fires to the southwest and north of Sydney, we need easterly winds to help ease the smoke,' a BOM forecaster told AAP.

Total fire bans are in place on Wednesday for northwestern NSW, the northern slopes and the central ranges.

Fire danger is severe in the northwestern region and 'very high' in the north of the state as well as the upper central west plains, the central ranges, the southern ranges, the southern slopes and the ACT.

On Tuesday evening, an emergency alert was issued for the 67,000-hectare Little L Complex fire near Wollombi in the Hunter region.

Residents living in the Glenroy Estate area were told to seek shelter from the fire as it was too late to leave, however the blaze has since been downgraded.

An emergency warning had also been issued for the Three Mile blaze in the Hawkesbury region but it was downgraded before 4pm.

'The fires just around Sydney alone - there is kilometres and kilometres of back-burning to do to try to lock the fires in,' Mr Rogers told ABC TV.

'We've got a lot of people that are very determined to get these fires under control as quickly as we possibly can.'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday encouraged Australians to heed expert advice on bushfire warnings and air pollution.

'I can reassure everyone the nationally-co-ordinated effort and the specific state efforts leading the response in each of their jurisdictions has been incredibly professionally deployed,' Mr Morrison told reporters.

Some 2700 firefighters were in the field on Tuesday, supported by aircraft.

 

Advertisement