Sydney, Australia surrounded by bushfires ring

This 19 December 2019 video says about itself:

Australian bushfire crisis deepens with record-breaking temperatures

Two volunteer firefighters have been killed fighting blazes south-west of Sydney in a worsening bushfire crisis facing Australia. A seven-day state of emergency was called in New South Wales, with more than 100 fires burning across the state and only half of then contained. Record high temperatures across have exacerbated the already dry conditions. South Australia is also preparing for devastating fires amidst the heat and drought. Sydney has again be blanked in bushfire smoke, triggering protests outside prime minister Scott Morrison’s Sydney residence.

This 18 December 2019 video says about itself:

Swarms of protesters are camping outside Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Kirribilli House in Sydney where they say they will wait until he returns to “confront the climate crisis”.

Translated from Dutch NOS radio today:

Sydney surrounded by fire: roads closed, residents have to stay home

Heat and forest fires are making the situation in southeastern Australia more and more acute. Various roads have been closed around Sydney, trains have been shut down and residents of the metropolis are being advised to postpone all journeys at the start of the Christmas holiday.

In Sydney, the fires and the heat have been the talk of the town for weeks, says correspondent Eva Gabeler from Sydney. “Everyone is talking about it. Today we woke up here with a smoky sky. It also causes fear among the population. You see more and more people with mouth masks. Unreal in a city like Sydney, where air quality has traditionally been super. Suicide line emergency services also receive more calls from people who are anxious or depressed. ” …

There are more than a hundred fires in the region, two of them near Sydney. They cause a life-threatening situation.

Today there was a cooler wind, but the wind was strong with gusts of wind up to 90 kilometers per hour. This means there is a risk that the fires will move quickly. “It was a terrible day”, a fire chief said, summarizing the day. “We can’t control these fires unless there is a decent amount of rain.” Some rain is expected in the coming days, but no large quantities.

Eight dead

There are 3000 firefighters and other emergency services working to deal with the crisis. Since September, eight people have died in fires in Australia. More than 700 houses have been destroyed.

One of the firefighters is the Dutchman Jeroen van Veen. He lives in the state of Victoria but is now fighting the fires near Sydney.

Yesterday he said in the NOS Radio 1 Journal that this week he and his colleagues were fighting “against a wall of fire that entered a residential area”. The wind is a big problem for the fire brigade: “Every time we have a fire out, you get gusts of wind that cause new fires. If one valley is safe, there is fire again in another one.”

According to Van Veen, it is a new experience, especially for his youngest colleagues. “They had never seen such a big sea of ​​fire, with fire tornadoes coming straight at us.”

Scott Morrison downplays climate change link to wildfires and says government will not change course: here.