SYDNEY, Dec 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Fire authorities in Australia are locked in a desperate battle to save a coal mine and a power station today (Tuesday), that have come under threat from a massive bush-fire northwest of Sydney, which local media dubbed the “mega-blaze.”
Already burning through 400,000 hectares of vegetation at Gospers Mountain and the Wollemi National Park, there are now fears the wildfire could spread even further, with temperatures expected to reach 46 degrees Celsius in coming days, as an extreme heatwave bears down on the nation’s east coast.
“The heatwave… add that to strong winds, and you’ve got the worst possible circumstances,” New South Wales (NSW) State Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, told the press.
Describing the next five days as the most dangerous the state has seen for “quite some time,” Fitzsimmons warned residents in surrounding areas to stay vigilant.
“People need to make sure they take responsibility for their own safety,” he said.
“The danger that is facing this community, both here in the Hawkesbury, and indeed the north of the state and the Wollondilly should never be underestimated.”
With the bushfire roaring towards the Mount Piper Power Station, which generates around 10 percent of the state’s electricity, fire crews worked tirelessly to protect the facility overnight.
Elsewhere, emergency personnel scrambled to avoid an environmental disaster, as burning embers made there way into the Springvale coal mine.
If stockpiles of the commodity were to catch fire, environmental agency, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, warned it could take weeks to put out the toxic fumes.
According to Centennial Coal, however, the company has reassured the public its stockpiles of coal are well protected behind containment lines.
“A lot of crews were deployed near that power station just to make sure the fire did not get into the coal,” RFS Deputy Commissioner, Rob Rogers, said.
Meanwhile, a group of 29 former emergency services bosses, blasted Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and his government’s response to the ongoing crisis, telling reporters, there needs to be a national summit to address the unprecedented impact that climate change is having on bush-fires.
Since the start of Australia’s wildfire season, a total of six people have died and around 720 homes have been lost, along with approximately 1,600 other structures.
Accusing Morrison, who is currently on holiday in Hawaii, of “missing in action,” former NSW Fire and Rescue Chief and member of the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action group, Greg Mullins, said, the government needs to do more.
“What we feel is that, there’s still this denial of the problem and where we have denial of the problem, there’s not going to be any action.”
“So we’ll go it alone. We’ll arrange a national summit that will look at building standards, fuel management practices, response capability and national coordination arrangements.”– NNN-AGENCIES