Queenslanders are sweltering again in another unseasonably hot day, with firefighters on high alert across the state.
There are at least 18 blazes causing concern, driven by temperatures that are set to break records.
Saskia Edwards reports.
TRANSCRIPT
It’s the last thing fire fighters want.
Soaring temperatures and gusty winds.
But that’s what they’ve faced all day and may well again tomorrow.
They’re watching 18 fires still burning. None of the out of control but all potentially dangerous.
Bushfires around Tambo, in the central west, have already burned more than 100,000 hectares of grazing country.
Emergency workers are urging people to be ready for the threat of more blazes.
Peter Varley, Emergency Management Queensland: “Fires can start so easily in these sort of conditions and they need to be prepared, have their property prepared.”
Temperatures reached 32 degrees today.
And it’s expected to be 10 above average tomorrow at 35.
Peter Varley, Emergency Management Queensland: “Very, very dry around the state and those are hot winds behind it, so we can expect pretty bad conditions for Queensland for the next few days.”
The scorching temperatures across Australia could beat national records.
Ken Kato, Forecaster: “There is a potential for a hottest maximum temperature records to be broken.”
New South Wales authorities have also issued severe fire warnings across a wide area.
Rob Rogers, NSQ RFS Deputy Commissioner: “There’s no rain forecasted in the foreseeable future, so we’re not looking at significant rain events at all. You might get some isolated showers. There’s no rain certainly for the next five or six days.”
And Queensland will also be dry again tomorrow, increasing the threat here.
Saskia Edwards, QUT News.