Sydney is blanketed in thick smoke AGAIN as temperatures soar towards 45C and firefighters battle two monster blazes surrounding the city
- Photos show the Sydney Opera House under a red sun amid a brown smoke haze
- Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a state of emergency on Thursday morning
- An extreme fire danger rating has also been issued for the Greater Sydney region
- Authorities are concerned two major fires could join and create a mega inferno
Sydney has been blanketed in a thick layer of smoke again as firefighters tackle an out-of-control blaze amid 45C temperatures.
Images of the Sydney Opera House on Thursday morning captured the sun glowing red through a toxic ash cloud of bushfire smoke.
An extreme fire danger rating has been issued for the Greater Sydney, the Illawarra and Southern Ranges areas, as fears of a mega inferno intensify.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a state of emergency on Thursday morning.
Incredible images showed the Sydney Opera House under a glowing red sun on Thursday morning
The sun could be seen poking from behind a thick layer of toxic smoke that has shrouded the city for the last month
Authorities are concerned that the Gospers Mountain fire, ravaging the northern end of the Blue Mountains National Park, could meet the Green Wattle Creek blaze to its south.
The NSW Rural Fire Service said Thursday’s horrendous conditions will be amplified by volatile winds sweeping through the area.
At midday on Thursday, north-westerly 40km/h winds are expected to sweep the Gospers Mountain blaze in the path of the Green Wattle Creek fire.
By 2pm – when the sweltering heat is predicted to exceed 40C – both fires will be pushed towards Sydney by westerly winds.
If the blazes join, fatigued firefighters will face their toughest test yet in what has been a devastating bushfire season so far.
Passengers riding the the Manly ferry this morning took photos of the eerie scene
One person uses their phone to capture the red sun hanging low over the city of Sydney
At 11.30pm on Wednesday, the huge Gospers Mountain blaze north-west of Sydney, was at Watch and Act with all other fires at the Advice alert level.
There were 96 bush or grass fires burning across NSW, with 53 not yet contained.
NSW RFS said: ‘More than 2,000 personnel are currently working overnight to slow the spread of fire before deteriorating conditions tomorrow.’
Winds of up to 50km/h are expected to sweep through Sydney CBD on Thursday afternoon and the Bureau of Meteorology warned temperatures could hit 45C.
Fires have ravaged the Bells Line of Road in Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains
A firefighters works at the scene of a bushfires in Gospers Mountain earlier this week
‘There is a significant burst of heat for much of the Greater Sydney [and] metropolitan [area], grading from the coast to the Western Plains, so we would be looking at temperatures of 40C for the CBD,’ meteorologist Neil Bennet said.
‘As we move out towards Parramatta we’re looking at 42C. Once you get to the foothills out towards Penrith you’re looking at temperatures of 45C.’
The average national temperature climbed to 40.9C eclipsing the record of 40.3C set in January 2013.
This record could be broken again with intense heat expected across most of Australia on Thursday and Friday.
Fire fighters are working hard to extinguish the devastating blaze at Gospers Mountain
Ms Berejiklian warned the state would face significant bushfire risk on Thursday and Saturday with the potential for ‘exceedingly concerning’ winds to blow embers well ahead of fire fronts.
‘Not only are we going to experience very high temperatures on Thursday and Saturday but there’s the exceedingly concerning wind conditions,’ she said on Wednesday.
‘We’re going to have a number of wind fronts escalating the fuel, the fires burning, and the potential to have spot fires and embers travelling very long distances.
‘It’s going to mean very unpredictable fire conditions.’