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NSW Rural Fire Service

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Former NSW Fire and Rescue commissioner Greg Mullins.

‘Lives at risk’: former emergency service leaders blast government over development ‘lunacy’ in Sydney’s west

“Developers’ profits are trumping community safety” over plans to develop in Hawkesbury-Nepean valley.

  • Max Maddison

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The State Operations Centre at NSW RFS Headquarters at Olympic Park on Friday.

Revealed: Why NSW faces extreme bushfire danger with fewer firefighters

The state’s Rural Fire Service is significantly smaller than the 70,000-strong force it has on paper, private documents show.

  • Ben Cubby, Angus Dalton and Michael McGowan
Smoke fills the sky above the Walwa bushfire, on the Victoria and NSW border, which has swept through about 17,000 hectares.

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

Extreme heat and wind are expected in NSW and the ACT on Saturday, and there are fears a large bushfire south of the Murray could blow across the river.

  • Jack Gramenz and Angus Dalton
This week’s heatwave spilled across the country from the west.

Australia’s summer bares its teeth as the heat is unfurled from the west

The worst heatwave since 2020 began in the far west and has yet to leave the east.

  • Aidan Elwig Pollock
Steve Foskett and his dog Cali, who “didn’t do any helping” while they defended his home.

As houses burned around it, the one that Steve built stood firm

Steve Foskett finished building this home a month ago. He tells us why this and others were saved from Saturday’s ferocious blaze.

  • Sally Rawsthorne and Sitthixay Ditthavong
Fire burning at Koolewong.

‘Just heartbreak’: At least a dozen homes lost in bushfires near Sydney

Two emergency warnings were issued for bushfires in NSW on Saturday, as firefighters continue to fight blazes across the state overnight following hot conditions.

  • Perry Duffin and Eryk Bagshaw
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A hot mass of air moving across the country will hit Sydney on Wednesday, as shown by this image from Windy.

Record heat, thunderstorms and extreme fire danger coming for Sydney

This month could become the hottest October on record – and may also beat the record for November – with a scorcher forecast for the city on Wednesday.

  • Angus Dalton and Daniel Lo Surdo
Images of a reported tornado captured from a NSW Rural Fire Service tower looking to the north-west of Young.

Lightning strike shuts down metro, tornado spins in southern NSW

Meanwhile, the rest of the state is facing flash-flooding and severe weather warnings as a low-pressure system rolls in from the west.

  • Josefine Ganko and Kayla Olaya
Bushland in Belrose and Oxford Falls would be rezoned for housing and other development under the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council plan.

To ignore RFS advice on housing isn’t just disrespectful. It’s stupid

Attempts to improve the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act are welcome in the current housing crisis. But disregarding advice from our emergency services is folly.

  • The Herald's View
NEWS: A large 3800 ha hazard reduction burn commences in Linden in the Blue Mountains. The Rural Fire Service, in partnership with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Fire and Rescue NSW, will be conducting critical hazard reduction burns across the state in the coming days. April 9th, 2025, Photo: Wolter Peeters, The Sydney Morning Herald.

Sydney shrouded in smoke, health warnings as air quality plunges

More than 6000 hectares are being burned as authorities catch up on delayed hazard reductions.

  • Riley Walter