21 October 2013
Firefighters in the Australian state of New South Wales face a "very, very serious risk" that three fires in the Blue Mountains west of the state capital, Sydney, could link up to form one massive fire and head towards Sydney's western suburbs.
Firefighters are using "high-risk" back-burning strategies against the Blue Mountains bushfires, despite the chance that they could hasten the formation of a "mega-fire". More than 200 homes have already been lost and 59 fires are currently still burning.
Residents in the Sydney region are being hit with air quality levels as much as 50 times worse than normal, as pollution from the bushfires casts a blanket of smoke over the city and beyond. A state-of-emergency has been declared across the state and will be in place for 30 days, to help the emergency services deal with the bushfire threat.
The main focus is on the huge State Mine fire that has a massive 300 kilometre fire-front and which is heading towards the Mount York Road blaze near Mount Victoria, which has a 60 kilometre fire-front. The major fire around the townships of Springwood and Winmalee has burnt 2,700 hectares.
