Stand by for your live blogger potentially being evacuated, looks like fires are now only a few kilometres from this usually uneventful abode in suburban Brisbane.
Firefighters now fighting a blaze at The Gap. There’s a bit of bushland about there but people in Brisvegas using garden hoses in the suburbs is not normal.
Does anyone else get the sense this is not normal? Like the climate has changed or something?
In other news, it’s snowing. Snowing. In NSW. Today.
Half the state is on fire and it’s snowing.
But hey, the climate is totally normal and this sort of stuff happens all the time.
Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales
(@BOM_NSW)#NSW is a state of extremes today with #snow currently falling at #Thredbo and #fires and hot conditions in the north east. Fire Weather, Sheep Graziers and Severe Weather Warnings are current. Stay up to date with weather and warnings in your area at https://t.co/DSobiRQSDK pic.twitter.com/iziPUHfxiU
The Mid Coast mayor David West has been preparing his own property and is back live on the ABC.
“It’s a horrible, horrible sight. The fire from Hillville has caused the evacuation of my daughter and her two children from their brand new home. It doesn’t seem that we as human beings have anything we can throw at this beast.
“It is incredibly dry, there is no moisture in the air, the wind is ridiculous and we are just getting hammered.”
Lives and homes in Western Australia are also being threatened by bushfires.
An emergency warning was issued for Regans Ford, a small town more than 100km north of Perth, just after midday WST on Friday.
Homes in Woodbine Road are under threat, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services says.
Updated
The biggest concern at the moment is that weather conditions could potentially worsen in many places later this afternoon.
Right across NSW and southern Queensland conditions are hot, dry and windy.
“We are getting some increasing aggressive fire behaviour, which is creating a very dangerous and volatile situation,” RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons has told the ABC.
“Because the drought is so profound there is no moisture left in the vegetation. The fires are moving through vegetation very quickly.”
‘We are in uncharted territory’
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons has spoken to the ABC and says the state has “never had this many fires at emergency level”
“Unfortunately we are in uncharted territory this afternoon,” he said. “We have 90 fires across New South Wales.”
Updated
The Hillville fire, south of Taree, is among the most intense across the state.
This video from the Rural Fire Service shows virtually no visibility due to thick smoke.
NSW RFS
(@NSWRFS)These are the conditions facing firefighters and residents at the Hillville fire south of Taree. Conditions are dangerous and if you’re in the path of the fire, your life is at risk. #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/jVoL0OdLmC
