According to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS), there are currently 69 fires burning across NSW, with 17 of these not yet contained.
The RFS has issued a dire warning, stating that both the Greater Sydney and Greater Hunter regions are set to experience extreme fire danger today.
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The situation is exacerbated by soaring temperatures, with Sydney’s Observatory Hill recording a sweltering 27.2 degrees around 9am, while Penrith has already surpassed 30.5 degrees.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said: “It’s September and we’re already experiencing four days in a row of temperatures above 30 degrees with high winds.”
“We are concerned about summer.”
Mr Minns has urged people to make fire plans and prepare for the upcoming heat.
The maximum temperature in the city for today and tomorrow is set to reach 22 degrees and 24 in the west.
The Bureau of Meteorology declared the onset of an El Nino and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, two weather events that make Australia hotter and drier.
The announcement came after an El Nino was already declared by the US Climate Centre, the United Nations World Meteorological Organisation and the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The Bureau of Meteorology Dr Karl Braganza has urged individuals and communities in the nation’s southeast to prepare for a summer of fire and heat hazards.
“We are already seeing extreme conditions in some parts of the continent, particularly in the duration of heat,” Braganza said in a press conference on Tuesday.
“We’ve had an extended period of warm and dry weather to start spring.”
The event is expected to last until late summer or early Autumn.
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