Yeah, looking at the BoM's satellite page, you can see the smoke streaming off out to sea again.
Emergency warnings here, there & everywhere- I count about 18 in NSW alone on the NSWRFS website.

On the ABC's site there's a video from Nymboidia where it's pitch black, except when looking towards the fires which is glowing.

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Grant
Darwin NT

From the ABC-

The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) says they have received multiple reports of people being trapped in their homes at several locations, as an unprecedented bushfire emergency grips the state.
Fire crews have been unable to reach these locations due to the intensity of the blazes.

From NSW RFS
At 5.30pm, there are 96 fires burning across the state, with 57 yet to be contained. 17 fires remain at Emergency Warning, mostly across the north coast and northern NSW. If you are near a fire at Emergency Warning level, take action now to protect your life.

:-(


Oh, hell.
From the QLD police-

***URGENT TEWANTIN RESIDENTS*** Sunshine Coast police are evacuating the ENTIRE SUBURB of Tewantin due to the current bushfire threat. Please LEAVE immediately, there is imminent threat to homes. This is for ALL residents of Tewantin.

Population of Tewantin is approx. 10,000.

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Grant
Darwin NT

After everything exploded here yesterday the 2 big older fires to the SE of here have finally joined together and spotted another couple of fire east of it as it hurries towards the coast. Another fire that started just east of Glen Innes (about 30km away as the crow flies) and is in a hurry to catch up to the joined fires has claimed 1 life while the fire just to the NW of here has pretty much burnt out the whole state forest now and 3 people are unaccounted for there.

Even though today is much cooler that westerly wind isn't giving up anytime soon. :-(

Well we just got both of our fire trucks restocked, re-crewed and heading back out to the fire front again. Both are showing a few battle scars.

[edit] 2 now confirmed dead (the 2nd at Torrington) and 7 unaccounted for.

Cheers.

Well the trucks have been serviced again and back out in the field with another crew and earlier reports of the 2nd death being at Torrington were wrong as it was also claimed by the Shannon Vale fire. A 3rd life has now been taken in a fire further down the coast from here and 7 are still unaccounted for.

NSW bushfires LIVE: Third person dies in NSW bushfires.

I should go and have a sleep now to be ready to go over those trucks again in the morning.

Cheers.

At least our 2 fire trucks made it back on time this morning, have been replenished and are now heading back out there for another 12hr shift as the wind here picks up again.

Two thirds of the national parks and state forests in this region have now either been burnt out or well on fire (more so the 2nd than the first), but the biggest concern is that the big fire between here and Coffs Harbour (and it is now just 1 big fire) could join up with the large, fast growing Foster/Port Macquarie fire that heading north and only about 60kms separate them now and the weather conditions are not expected to get better anytime this week (in fact Tuesday could be a huge problem). :-O

While the death toll hasn't gone up since the number unaccounted for hasn't gone down either. :-(

Cheers.

In the satellite images, the volume of smoke heading off the coast is even more than what it was a couple of days ago, and as you say- Tuesday is not looking good at all.


Here, the rain we had is just a memory now. 26°c to 35°c for the rest of the week, with just a (slight) chance of a shower or storm about.

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Grant
Darwin NT

26°c to 35°c for the rest of the week, with just a (slight) chance of a shower or storm about.

In tonight's forecast the BoM isn't even considering the possibility of a storm or even a shower till mid week now. Even then, I reckon they're mentioning just in case it does happen, but they don't think it's very likely to occur. And we're looking at plenty of 27°c to 36°c days, with humidity (although lower than usual for this time of year, it's still going to be nasty).

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Grant
Darwin NT

26°c to 35°c for the rest of the week, with just a (slight) chance of a shower or storm about.

In tonight's forecast the BoM isn't even considering the possibility of a storm or even a shower till mid week now. Even then, I reckon they're mentioning just in case it does happen, but they don't think it's very likely to occur. And we're looking at plenty of 27°c to 36°c days, with humidity (although lower than usual for this time of year, it's still going to be nasty).

G'day Grant sounds like your going to have a hot summer Downunder
Best Wishes.
Byron.

Well the smoke is as thick as a good pea soup fog here this morning and the roadworks out front are causing chaos again, but hopefully the breeze will change direction soon and blow this smoke away.

Also us 5 old cripples seem to have getting these 2 fire trucks turned about down to an art now as we're getting it done just inside of 30mins.

Hopefully today they can make a good dent in these fires before tomorrow's hot and gusty conditions arrive.

Cheers.

The westerly change has finally arrived here and the thick smoke that has been hanging around all morning is now starting to clear (visibility has gone from 150m to 750m).

Thankfully this village is a designated safe zone being in flat open grass land and not in those heavily wooded hills and ravines where the fires are.

So far over 850,000 hectares (2,303,500 acres) has been burnout in this part of the state.

Cheers.

Well the trucks are back out again and the afternoon was spent clearing 17 roofs around the village of leaf litter in case of ember attacks tomorrow (which are extremely likely).

An easterly breeze is also due in 2-3hrs and once that's arrive a lot of back burning will be going on until around 5am tomorrow, but now I think is time for bed.

Cheers.

The smoke is thick again here this morning (just not as thick as yesterday) with the currently calm conditions, but that's expected to change in the next hour or 2.

Anyhow, our 2 fire trucks should be back here soon so I better get ready to go and prepare them for the next shift.

After that it'll be just watching out for any ember attacks, which is high on the cards for us here today.

Cheers.

I have seen it in the news tonight.

My thoughts and best wishes are with all of you guys.

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With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.

The boys did some burning off last night/early this morning as both trucks were completely out of drip fire fuel (60L on the Cat1 and 40L on the Cat7) and 9 mains stems have been setup around the boundaries of the village with 38mm hoses and nozzles (my stem is on the oval behind me around 75m away and my firefighting kit is all ready to pull on) while 2 fire fighting trailers are now based at the fire station.

We did have some clear air here for a while as the breeze changed from the east to NW, but now the smoke is starting to drift in from the fire just to the NW of here and I'm surprised that the roadworks out front are continuing today.

As I finish this post the NW breeze has just become a lite wind so the gusty conditions that were forecast for here won't be far away now.

Cheers.

Good luck with the firefight Wiggo. As you may know it is fire season in California. I know all to well what it is like.

I have seen it in the news tonight.
My thoughts and best wishes are with all of you guys.

Thanks Mike, we're as prepared for this as we'll ever be now.

Good luck with the firefight Wiggo. As you may know it is fire season in California. I know all to well what it is like.

Yes, you guys are running late and long while we got going early. :-(

Cheers.

Nothing can now be seen of the western bank of the river due to a wall of smoke (about 200M away) and that is creeping ever closer to the village.

The highway patrol also turned up here about an hour ago and told the road workers to stop work and get their gear right off the highway as it must be kept clear today.

The wind speed is now up to 25km/h with gusts up to 40km/h and those speeds are expected to rise further over the next 2 hours.

Cheers.

Yeah, the southerly change is coming through, going to be very bad for those southern fires along the coastal areas.

And the present forecast for Friday, Saturday & Sunday is looking grim.

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Grant
Darwin NT

That was 1 very long day yesterday and I finally got to bed at 1am this morning as we had to wait for that southerly change to get here before we could stand down, but thankfully the wind direction during the day was very favourable for us here so no ember attacks happened.

It's still very smokey here, but we're back to 17 fires in this area now (it was 27 yesterday) and with the wind direction ATM they're all burning back on themselves until the westerly wind returns in a few hours time. Temps for today and tomorrow will be cooler than yesterday, but 30C+ is expected through the weekend to Tuesday at least (damn and it's not summertime yet for those temps).

Cheers.