A total fire ban is in place for parts of the south coast of New South Wales and Greater Sydney regions.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00OK, well, we've got winds and we've got warm temperatures and we've got dry, dryness.
00:08So putting that all together, it is not a good day for bushfires.
00:11And that's why the New South Wales Rural Fire Service has issued a total fire ban for the
00:16Greater Sydney and Illawarra Shoalhaven regions.
00:19Now, the wind has been relatively all right in Sydney, at least this morning.
00:24In other parts of the state, I think it's caused a little bit of chaos for power outages
00:30and that sort of thing.
00:32But for the most part, the wind is expected to now pick up in the next hour or so.
00:37There's a severe weather warning for damaging winds.
00:40For a large chunk of New South Wales, actually, from about Sydney all the way down south to
00:44the Victorian border, as far inland as the Snowy Mountains and the Central Tablelands
00:49and the Hunter, we could see wind travel as fast as 60 to 70 kilometres per hour from
00:55mid-morning through until the afternoon.
00:58We could see gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour, even 110 kilometres per hour is
01:05possible at higher elevations.
01:07So it's certainly a windy day ahead and things are going to be ramping up within the next
01:12hour or so.
01:13There's about 36 fires that the New South Wales RFS is keeping an eye on in New South Wales.
01:19Five of which are yet to be contained, but there's no threats.
01:23Staff here at the New South Wales RFS headquarters in Sydney more have been coming in, starting
01:28their shifts, keeping an eye on things.
01:30Touch wood it stays relatively calm, but they are keeping an eye on the situation.
01:35In fact, we caught up with the inspector of the RFS, Ben Shepard, to hear more about what's
01:40in store for the day ahead and just general advice for landholders in the area in relation
01:44to those two total fire bans.
01:46Here's what he had to say.
01:48Most importantly today, please do not use fire out in the open.
01:51What we don't want to see is any escape of any fires.
01:54Equally as well, if you have done burns in the last few days, go and check on them, make
01:59sure they're completely out.
02:00Under today's conditions, those areas that do require permits, they are suspended.
02:05Please do not try and light up in these conditions because that will be incredibly dangerous.
02:09So we just need people to check, jump on the RFS website, all the conditions and where
02:14the permits are required are on there.
02:16But keep yourself informed as well across the day.
02:20So spring is certainly here.
02:23We saw those warmer temperatures, especially across New South Wales last week.
02:27It's officially spring, two days into spring, and here we are with these total fire bans,
02:32who could believe it, for the Greater Sydney and Illawarra Shoal Haven regions.
02:37And a lot of people along the New South Wales East Coast, they're familiar with winds, especially
02:40in spring, right?
02:42It's just this combination of hotter, drier weather with the winds that the RFS is taking
02:47those extra precautions to minimise bushfire risk.