45度C：焚風襲悉尼

NSW awakes to sweltering temperatures

Residents in NSW areas with a "catastrophic" fire danger have woken up to sweltering temperatures, as the Rural Fire Service urges people to leave early.

The Southern Ranges and Illawarra/Shoalhaven areas have been given the highest possible fire danger rating on Tuesday, and the RFS reached 1 million phones in the area on Monday night to issue safety advice.

At Albion Park it was 30.8 degrees at 6.30am and 30.9 at Nowra, while other towns in the area were all in the mid 20s.

"In the catastrophic areas, leaving early is your safest option. It's not about people leaving the big regional centres – we're talking about those that are in bushfire-prone areas.

"Even homes that are well-prepared and well-designed are not designed and expected to withstand the potential fire behaviour and conditions under the forecast.

"It is about making sure at-risk residents leave the area early so they're not where the fire impact is likely to be."


A helicopter dumps water to protect farm buildings at Oura, near Wagga Wagga. Photo: Les Smith

Surrounding areas, including Sydney, the Central Ranges and further west, have been declared "extreme".

In Sydney, where it is expected to reach 43, Terrey Hills residents woke to a temperature of 24, while it was 22 at Sydney Airport and 21 in the city.

Mr Fitzsimmons said there were reports that many people were leaving the "catastrophic" areas, camping grounds had been closed down and tourists had decided to pack up early and leave.

Many residents had decided to visit family away from the problem areas, he said.

A total fire ban has been declared statewide, and all national parks, state forests and reserves have been closed to the public.

Overnight, firefighters battled two major bushfires in Wagga Wagga and the Shoalhaven.

A grass fire at Oura, 14 kilometres east of Wagga Wagga, was controlled by more than 100 volunteers after it burnt out 870 hectares.

In the Deans Gap area, about 40 kilometres west of Jervis Bay, a fire had burnt out six hectares and crews worked through the night to contain it ahead of the worsening fire conditions.

Mr Fitzsimmons said there were about 100 fires burning in NSW and 20 remained uncontained on Tuesday morning.

"[The uncontained fires] could be influenced by the adverse weather and take a run and obviously that's what the firefighters have been working on.

"We don't have any fires causing immediate threat at the moment. A lot of them are in very difficult to access terrain and that always presents problems.

"At this stage we've not got anything immediately threatening properties, but clearly as the weather conditions develop today we're going to have to monitor that closely."
(Sydney Morning Herald 8.1.2013)

今天悉尼大部分地方氣温超過40度，入夏以來最炎熱的一天，有些地區被形容為具災難性的火警危險，政府呼籲居民離開，真的燒起上來，休想救火，最近Tasmania的Dunalley山火，就燒毀了過百間房屋。高温加上強風，燒起來一發不可收拾。

我住的地方預測45度，人都會溶掉，房子和車都一起溶掉。45度的一天怎樣過呢？別以為打開門窗讓空氣流通可以消除暑氣，涼快一點。遇上這種天氣，門窗一定要關上，否則讓焚風吹進屋，就變成熔爐(furnace)，未入地獄，先入煉獄(purgatory)，淨化心靈。

開冷氣躲在家並非良策，也不是單純省電費的考慮。安放在屋外那座4、5呎高的冷氣機，我也不知香港叫多少匹，在這種氣温下，開了一小時，樓上的睡房也不覺涼快。還是躲進圖書館，涼免費的冷氣好了。5點半離開圖書館，走到街上，迎着像風筒吹出來的熱風。上車把冷氣開到最大，標板顯示車外41度。

這種有米懶煮的日子，午飯在外面吃，順便買片冬瓜，晚上煮冬瓜粒牛肝菌(porcini)瑶柱湯飯。買了一片冬瓜，約兩斤重，盛惠港幣50元。口渴的時候，泡幾壺秋茶王鐵觀音，生津回甘的感覺，汽水啤酒又怎能相比？