Fears blaze will jump Victorian border as fire bans declared across NSW

NSW volunteers are being sent to Victoria to support firefighting efforts and to prevent blazes from spreading across the border, as extreme heat and wind are expected to sweep into NSW and the ACT on the weekend.

A total fire ban has been declared for much of eastern NSW on Saturday, from the Greater Hunter to the Victorian border, including the Sydney region.

Extreme fire danger is expected across Sydney, the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, the southern ranges and slopes, and the Monaro Alpine region bordering Victoria, which on Friday battled catastrophic conditions.

Sixty fires are burning across NSW, including more than a dozen bush and grass fires along the NSW-Victorian border as bad fire weather pushes north.

People in the town of Corowa, just north of the border, were briefly urged to take shelter under an emergency warning issued by the NSW Rural Fire Service about 6pm, as a grass fire threatened residential streets. Firefighters have since gained the upper hand and relaxed the warning.

The RFS has also said a large bushfire burning south of the Murray River, about 50 kilometres east of Albury, could blow into NSW when the winds change on Saturday.

Firefighters are monitoring the area between Talmalmo and Jingellic as flying embers ignite spot fires on the NSW side.

“People need to take action now and make sure they’ve got a bushfire survival plan in place,” the RFS district manager of the southern border Superintendent Tom McDevitt said. “It’s never too late to start one and know what you’re doing.”

Fires already burning in Victoria and new blazes possibly sparked by dry lightning later on Friday will be fast-moving and hard to control as an evening southerly change in wind brings 90 kilometre gusts to Melbourne, the Bureau of Meteorology said in an update from the National Emergency Centre.

The winds will then move into NSW on Saturday, increasing fire risk.

“We’re expecting widespread extreme fire danger ratings across NSW and the ACT for tomorrow. No districts are currently at the catastrophic level,” a BoM spokesman said.

“There will also be some increased winds across these regions as the passage of the front moves up and around into NSW, making it challenging for firefighters on the ground.”

NSW Rural Fire Service were monitoring. Commissioner Trent Curtin said volunteers were helping south of the border.

“We’ve sent a lot of crews into Victoria today to support them with their catastrophic conditions,” he told this masthead.

“We’ve got a lot of aircraft available to support that, so whilst we don’t expect that fire to cross the border we are prepared in the event it might.”

The Murray River that comprises much of the border between the states does help to limit the spread.

“It’s a natural break there. That fire would have to jump quite a long way, but it is possible,” Curtin said. “Under these conditions, embers can travel quite a long way.”

Curtin encouraged those who had not already done so to download the Hazards Near Me app and to monitor conditions regularly.

“It’s really important that everyone’s prepared for extreme fire conditions,” he said.

In most parts of Sydney, temperatures has passed into the mid-30s and 40s on Friday as the heatwave continued to build. The top temperature of 42.4 degrees was recorded at Penrith.

Sydney will bake again on Saturday as temperatures reach as high as 43 degrees in the city and in the west.

The heatwave is expected to ease when a south-west to southerly change brings milder temperatures on Sunday, when a maximum of 25 degrees is forecast for Penrith and 26 degrees for the city.

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