Australians feel the heat as bushfire threat flares up
Severe and extreme heatwaves will affect large parts of Australia, bringing conditions not seen since the Black Summer bushfires.
The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that temperatures in some parts of South Australia, Victoria, the ACT and NSW will reach levels not felt in several years.
Senior meteorologist Angus Hines said inland parts of South Australia, Victoria and NSW would ease the heat from Wednesday, with Adelaide and Melbourne facing temperatures reaching 42°C, while inland Australia could reach 45°C.
The heat is expected to continue in SA, rising to an estimated 37C in Canberra on Thursday, before rising again in the capital, Melbourne and parts of central Australia on Friday.
On the expected final day of the heatwave on Saturday, Sydney will feel a maximum of 39 degrees, with some western suburbs reaching 44 degrees.
Conditions will be the worst since the catastrophic bushfires of the summer of 2019-20, which killed more than 30 people and burned millions of hectares.
“Heat is just one component that leads to high and dangerous fire danger, and we expect to see some pretty significant fire weather during this heatwave,” Mr. Hines said.
Dry conditions across the country combined with fairly breezy winds and the potential for lightning strikes could be enough to fuel fires.
“If any bushfire starts under these conditions, it can spread extremely quickly and become very difficult or impossible to control and contain,” Mr. Hines said.
As the mercury rises, fire dangers are expected to reach extreme levels in inland South Australia, Victoria and NSW, with total bans imposed across much of the country.
The SA government has issued a Tier 1 Code Red from Tuesday to Thursday to provide welfare checks and rapid support to vulnerable and isolated residents, including the homeless.
Victoria State Control issued an advisory for the entire state on Wednesday, with Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch warning of three or four tough days ahead.
“We will likely see severe to extremely intense heatwaves at levels not seen since 2019/20 and we need Victorians to heed the advisory,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
Although fire conditions are not at the same level as six years ago, officials are seeing a large number of fires starting in recent days due to dry conditions at the base.
“The risk of seeing serious fires in the coming days is very high,” he said.
Mr. Wiebusch urged people to stay safe on waterways and take precautions such as drinking plenty of water and taking shelter during the hottest parts of the day.
Victorian Deputy Chief Health Officer Evelyn Wong said those most at risk were people over 65, babies and young children, pregnant women, people with acute or chronic health conditions and people who were socially isolated.
“The effect of temperature on health is cumulative, meaning that with alternating hot days and hot nights, it makes it harder for the body to cool down,” Dr Wong said.
Energy supplier AusGrid said rising temperatures were expected to lead to record surges on the power grid as Australians cranked up air conditioning, increasing the risk of unplanned outages.
The heatwave comes after 2025 was named Australia’s fourth hottest year on record, with temperatures 1.3 degrees above the 1961-90 average, and 2024 was named the country’s second hottest year.
Australia’s hottest year was 2019, when the national annual mean temperature was 1.51C above average.
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