
Australian fire officials on Sunday warned that residents of New South Wales are facing the worst wildfire conditions in more than 40 years. Already more than 200 homes have been destroyed and another 120 damaged. One man has died so far trying to protect his property. The weather forecast for Wednesday is even more severe.
The last time firefighters faced a situation like this was in the late 1960s.
Monday some areas received lightning with little or no rain.

Assistant police commissioner Alan Clarke said mandatory evacuation orders would be enforced in some areas, describing the risk as “far more extreme” than in past fires.
“Police will be doing forced evacuations if the risk is necessary,” Clarke told reporters.
“At the end of the day we hope we have buildings standing, but if we don’t have buildings standing we don’t want bodies in them.”
The typical wildfire season in Australia is from December through February, but this year firefighters are having to deal with numerous large fires weeks earlier than normal. The contracts for large Erickson Air-Crane helicopters that can carry 2,650 gallons of water were not yet in effect but two of the ships were rushed into service to assist firefighters.

One of the largest fires is the State Mine Fire about 70 km northwest of Sydney between Lithgow and Bilpin which as burned 42,751 hectares (105,000 acres). It is likely to merge with the New York Road/Mt. Victoria Fire just to the south, which is 2,017 hectares (5,000 acres).

Two sources for current maps of fires in Australia: New South Wales Rural Fire Service, and ESRI.

Here’s some numbers on the fire crisis as of 3.45pm AEDT today.
The fires have burnt a total of 117,400 hectares. The Southern Highlands fire has burnt 15,350 hectares, the Springwood fire has burnt 3,190 hectares, the Mount Victoria fire has destroyed 2,300 hectares burnt and the State Mine fire has engulfed 42,750 hectares.
More than 2,000 firefighters are on rotation throughout the state, including 688 from interstate.
Eighty-nine aircraft are helping today’s efforts, along with 259 fire trucks.
A total of 208 properties have been confirmed destroyed, of which 193 are in Springwood.
I’m sure there was an exchange in the mid 2000s when there were major fires in Eastern Victoria with crews from the US and Canada assisting. Those fires in remote country burnt over 2 million acres over a couple of months. As I was in fire operations in South Australia then, I’m not certain of all the details then.
Have US handcrews ever gone to Australia? If so, when was the last time?
Nicely put together report Bill. The mapping resources in the NSW Rural Fire Service are good.
The outlook across Australia is a little grim. The last large crisis like this in New South Wales was in 2002/2003 and that was in December/January yet we are only in October. NSW season is highly dependent on the impact of tropical monsoonal influences heading south and those weather patterns in Northern Australia are not apparent yet. Southern areas of Australia are gearing up for their fire seasons as everything is starting to dry off and cure rapidly.