City swelters through hottest January day since Black Summer

16 hours ago 1

Relief from the heat was expected to wash over Sydney on Saturday evening after the city sweltered through its hottest January day since Black Summer, reaching a top of 42.2 degrees.

While the mercury missed its forecast top of 43 at Sydney’s Observatory Hill weather station, at 3.39pm it recorded the equal-highest of the summer so far and the hottest January day since 2020. The hottest place in Sydney was 43.5 at Holsworthy, 31 kilometres from the CBD, while the state’s top temperature was at Borrona Downs in the far north-west, with to 44.6 degrees.

Emergency services remain on high alert as 56 fires flare across NSW, although the state has been largely spared the disaster experienced in Victoria. At 6pm, emergency warnings remained in place for four blazes on the southern side of the border while one incident was listed at “watch and act” level, a 260-hectare bushfire at Yowrie in the Eurobodalla Shire Council area.

On Sydney’s outskirts, a small bushfire at Mount Colah was quickly brought under control on Saturday afternoon, along with others in Campbelltown and Moorebank, while there were grass fires in Rouse Hill, East Kurrajong and Bardwell Park.

Thousands of firefighters on Saturday toiled in Victoria to get the upper hand on bushfires that have razed more than 130 homes, cut power to tens of thousands and burnt vast swaths of bushland. While the NSW Rural Fire Service sent firefighters to assist, Commissioner Trent Curtin said the volunteer organisation had enough people and equipment in reserve to handle Saturday’s threat.

In NSW, a total fire ban was in force in the south-east of NSW, the Central Ranges, Sydney, and the Greater Hunter. RFS spokesman Greg Allan said “very hot, very-windy conditions” continued into the evening.

“There’s been a number of fires that have reached the watch and act alert level, including one at Mount Colah in the northern parts of Sydney, that was contained really quickly,” Allan said.

“There were a couple of other [fires] out west that did get to watch an act, but crews got around very quickly. The one fire that watch and act now is down in the Eurobodalla – that’s been burning for a number of days. It’s in very remote area, so there’s no immediate threat to properties.”

Allan said residents near fires should be alert, as damaging winds are expected to begin on Saturday night and could switch the direction of a blaze before a cool southerly buster provides relief for firefighters.

“Overnight temperatures usually do cool that little, the humidity rises and the winds back off. But because the southerly is set to come around 8pm or 9pm tonight, that wind will be quite strong if there is fire activity. It’s important to realise that fire may move in a different direction and so you need to monitor what’s going on,” he said.

While many Sydneysiders sought relief from the heat in the water, the risk was highlighted after a woman in her 60s nearly drowned at the Waves Fitness and Aquatic Centre in Baulkham Hills about 3.15pm.

Four ambulances attended the scene and the patient was taken to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition. A spokeswoman for NSW Ambulance said the woman was hauled out of the pool moments before the ambulance arrived.

On Friday, a four-year-old boy died after being pulled unconscious from a pool on the state’s Mid North Coast.

Emergency services began the day braced for the worst: 44 fires were active in the state at 8.30am, including four that were not contained, but authorities were confident they had the teams and equipment ready to respond to any threat.

Along with 4000 fire trucks and aircraft at its disposal, the NSW Rural Fire Service said it had 19 strike teams with a total of 600 firefighters who could be deployed quickly.

Curtin said on Saturday morning that emergency services were grappling with “very challenging conditions”.

“We have high fire danger predicted across most of the state of NSW today, with many areas predicted to have extreme fire danger conditions,” he said.

Premier Chris Minns warned lives would be lost because of the heat and issued a warning to festival-goers and organisers amid the extreme heatwave conditions.

Swimmers cool off at Redleaf swimming baths in Sydney’s east.

“There’s over 30 music festivals across NSW today,” Minns said. “I am concerned about that number. I want to make it very clear that it is the responsibility of the organisers of those music festivals to provide shade and water for participants and those who are attending.”

He added: “A lack of water on a 40-degree day can cost you your life, even if you are fit and well.”

Minns also urged people who had ever thought of “becoming a hero and joining the RFS” that now was the time.

“We’re keen to have more recruits. I think that there are tens of thousands of people out there that would be fantastic firefighters.”

The Herald reported on Saturday that the RFS is significantly smaller than the 70,000-strong force it has on paper, according to private documents.

The number of trained firefighters is now just over 45,000, the agency privately told the Productivity Commission last year.

About 16,240 RFS volunteers have “village firefighter competency”, meaning they can fight fires in small buildings, in vehicles or other blazes likely to be found in a village setting, according to RFS documents from 2023 obtained under freedom-of-information laws.

Minns urged people to stay hydrated throughout the day and said there was an easy way to monitor your intake.

“The best way of telling whether you have had enough water is whether your wee is clear or not,” Minns said at the State Emergency Operations Centre.

“I don’t mean to be graphic with everybody, but this is the best way of telling whether you’re being healthy on an incredibly hot day.”

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