Total fire ban tipped for Sydney as city continues to swelter

Desperate Sydneysiders have taken to the city’s beaches, rivers and lakes to seek respite from a heatwave roasting NSW which authorities warn will worsen into the weekend, when total fire bans are expected.

The mercury broached 42 degrees in Penrith, Badgerys Creek and Holsworthy Barracks on Thursday as the entire city, barring Sydney Harbour, recorded maximums above 33 degrees. Temperatures reached into the mid-40s in southern and central NSW, including in the Riverina region, where a total fire ban was in place.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Brandon Creagh expected temperatures to be more than 40 degrees in western Sydney again on Friday as bushfire danger escalated. The heatwave warning issued by the BoM will last until Sunday.

“We’re expecting high fire dangers for much of the state ... pushing into extreme fire dangers on Saturday, including the Greater Sydney region,” Creagh said.

Four southern regions bordering Victoria – Southern Riverina, Eastern Riverina, Southern Slopes and Monaro Alpine – will be subject to a total fire ban on Friday.

NSW Rural Fire Service spokesperson Greg Allan said total fire bans had been declared because of the forecast high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds.

He warned of a blaze burning near the border in north-east Victoria, a state facing catastrophic fire conditions on Friday.

“There is the potential that that fire could spot across – those in that area should be aware of the fire burning across,” Allan said.

“There’s no fire at the moment, but consider the circumstances and continue to monitor.”

The mercury is forecast to top 43 degrees in Penrith and hit 42 degrees in the city when the heatwave peaks on Saturday.

Extreme fire danger is expected on Saturday in Sydney, the ACT, the Illawarra, the Southern Slopes and Ranges and Monaro Alpine regions, and the RFS is urging people to prepare their properties and ensure they have a plan if a fire approaches.

Total fires ban for those regions are expected to be announced on Friday afternoon.

Waterways such as the harbour, Lake Parramatta and the Nepean River were again popular on Thursday as Sydneysiders took shelter from stifling heat.

NSW Ambulance associate director of emergency management Steve Vaughan warned that some groups, including the very old and very young, were more susceptible to sustained, extreme heat.

“It’s not individual hot days,” Vaughan said.

“These are concurrent, higher-than-average temperatures, both daytime and nighttime, that have a compounding effect on individual’s health.

“If you don’t need to be outside in the heat, stay home, relax and enjoy a cooler environment.”

Vaughan suggested people without air-conditioning head to shopping centres to escape the heat.

Angus Nardi, chief executive of the Shopping Centre Council of Australia, welcomed anyone seeking relief to visit a centre, even if they didn’t intend on shopping.

“During extreme weather, the focus is on community well-being,” Nardi said.

A spokesperson for Scentre Group, which operates Westfield locations, encouraged communities to “seek respite from the heat” at its destinations.

A cool change is forecast to sweep through Sydney late on Saturday or in the early hours of Sunday, according to Creagh, behind a low-pressure system developed on the Great Australian Bight.

“That extended cold front will displace the hot air in front, leading to a wind change and more of a south-easterly, as opposed to northern, hot winds,” Creagh said.

As much of the country swelters – including Canberra, which is expected to suffer a triple-run of 38-degree days – newly released research has warned extreme heat drives more people into the emergency room.

One in 15 emergency department visits was linked to extreme weather between 2000 and 2021 in the ACT, the analysis published in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health on Thursday found. About 2.5 per cent of all visits in the ACT were linked to heat, and 4 per cent for extreme cold.

The rates of heat-related emergency department visits are higher in Sydney and Perth at between 5 and 10 per cent, the study’s lead author Dr Michael Tong said.

Heatwaves can exacerbate heart stress, kidney disease and mental health conditions.

“When daily maximum temperature is more than 30 degrees, we can see there’s significant increase in these hospital emergency department visits,” said Tong, from the Australian National University.

Along with inflaming underlying health issues, extreme heat also inflicts 78 per cent of direct injuries requiring hospitalisation relating to weather events, according to government data. Injuries can include acute dehydration and severe sunburn.

All age groups are at risk, Tong said, but “young people under 20 are significantly more likely to end up in hospital emergency department on hot days,” because smaller bodies are more vulnerable to extreme temperatures and children usually spend more time outside.

Tong urged people of all ages to stay indoors during the heatwave and be aware that a scorching day can have a lagged health effect in the two or three days after exposure to extreme heat.

Heat-related healthcare costs just in Sydney could surpass half a billion dollars by 2050 as climate change drives hotter temperatures and more days above 30 degrees, Tong’s previous research warned.

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