Hey all,
As many people know (especially for us in Australia) there are currently more than 60 fires burning across NSW with the worst being concentrated in between Brisbane and Newcastle (yes the fire is that big!). I just wanted to share some information on the fires to promote fire awareness and support of the Rural Fire Service/Brigade, NSW Fire and Rescue, NSW Police, NSW Ambulance, State Emergency Service and all the other emergency organisations involved.
CURRENT EMERGENCY SITUATION
The fire is currently over 135,850 hectares big and is out of control. My grandparents who live quite close in Grafton (and will probably have to leave soon) said “the whole place is looking dangerous, you cannot see the town the smoke is so bad, light a match and the entire town will be up in flames”. The Rural Fire Service (which is CalFire for Australia) says that due to the extremes and location of the fire, RFS may not be able to get to people in those areas.
Satellite image of the smoke West of Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Grafton.
RFS aviatio assets involved:
- 737 Large Air Tanker
- Erickson S-64 Air-Crane
- Firebird 200 (Eurocopter AS-350B)
- Beechcraft B200T Super King
- Finally, the almighty Tanker Air Carrier
If you are concerned for anyone safety please visit the Rural Fire Service fire map for more details.
For the list of closed educational instutes including private schools please use this link.
If you are in affected areas please go to the nearest Evacuation Centres and register/sign in so you are counted for.
FIRE INFORMATION FOR SYDNEY
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Full list of areas affected
- The Hills
- Blacktown
- Blue Mountains
- Burwood
- Camden
- Campbelltown
- Canada Bay
- Fairfield
- Hawkesbury
- Hornsby
- Hunters Hill
- Kogarah
- Ku-ring-gai
- Lane Cove
- Liverpool
- Mosman
- North Sydney
- Parramatta
- Penrith
- Randwick
- Ryde
- Strathfield
- Sutherland
- Sydney
- Waverley
- Willoughby
- Woollahra
- Bayside
- Canterbury-Bankstown
- Central Coast
- Cumberland
- Georges River
- Inner West
- Northern Beaches
For more information, please go to the RFS website (google it) or listen to your local government radio (702am in Sydney). This information does not replace any government news sources and is just to give people some general information.
Updates will be provided throughout the next few days as my school is closed however be aware that I may not be able to access the forum to update if I am involved in fires being in the Sydney area. As a member of RAAF in GAF I will be flying in a C-130 callsign fire01 over the biggest fire when I can, please feel free to join (I’ll be on expert) with the callsigns fire 02, fire 03, etc.
You may be wondering why I’m not in the RFS, well to answer that question, I recently started attending my local RFS station after doing a cadet program but I cannot fight fires until I do the course which is next year.
Thank you for your attention.