Australia state declares fire emergency after 150 homes lost

Australia’s most populous state declared a fire emergency on Monday with worsening conditions expected after wildfires have alrey claimed three lives and more than 150 homes.

New South Wales state Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said residents were facing what “could be most dangerous bushfire week this nation has ever seen.”

Fires in state’s rast have razed more than 850,000 hectares (3,300 square miles) of forest and farmland since Friday.

Fire conditions are forecast to be worse on Tuesday than y were at peak of current fire emergency on Friday.

“ catastrophic wear conditions mean that things can change very quickly,” Premier Glys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

“You might think you’re OK and a few minutes later you won’t be. Please heed all messs you receive. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is t day to be complacent,” she ded.

Catastrophic fire danger has been declared for Sydney and Hunter Valley region to rth on Tuesday with severe and extreme danger across vast parts of rest of state.

“Catastrophic is off conventional scale,” Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

weeklong declaration of a state of emergency gives Rural Fire Service sweeping powers to direct any government ncy to conduct or refrain from conducting any of its functions. It can order immediate shutdown of essential utilities including gas and electricity in fire-declared areas and can close ros and take possession of any property in course of an emergency response.

annual Australian fire season, which peaks during Sourn Hemisphere summer, has started early after an unusually warm and dry winter.