Australia bushfires live: fears Blue Mountains fires will join together

RFS chief warns three major fires could join together, endangering entire Blue Mountains, as NSW premier calls a state of emergency to deal with more than 50 fires burning across the state

An aerial image shows a fire-fighting helicopter over a smoke cloud, after a devastating bushfire passed through at Yellow Rock in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, Australia. An aerial image shows a fire-fighting helicopter over a smoke cloud, after a devastating bushfire passed through at Yellow Rock in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, Australia. Photograph:

6.26pm AEST

Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione: all of the arsonists arrested so far have been "young people"

    Today, there has been two arrests with regards to a significant fire which caused about 5,000 hectares of damage. There has been an 11-year-old male taken into custody, has been charged and put before a court, his bail refused by the court.

    We currently have a 15-year-old male in our custody assisting us with similar enquiries, not yet charged but certainly at this stage the intention is he will be before the courts as soon as we can get him there.

    It's very disturbing, all of the arrests we have made with regard to arson attacks since this current crisis have been young people.


6.10pm AEST

RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons says forecasted windy conditions will cause problems in the next 48 hours:

    The weather forecast continues to firm up as being problematic over the next 48 hrs with a continuance of similar conditions to today, albeit with a marginal reduction in temperatures for tomorrow before we see those elevated wind strengths dominate much of the fire affected areas, but also more broadly right up through the Hunter, central ranges, metropolitan and Illawarra regions. We can expect to see most of those areas with widespread severe fire danger ratings.

5.59pm AEST

RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons has just given an update to the media.

He says the conditions are continuing to make things unpredictable, and "as the fire grounds continue to change, we continue to see flare-ups and erratic behaviour".

There is some good news with the previously mentioned Hall Road fire being downgraded.

He says there's a "developing amount of fire activity near the community of Bilpin and Berambing, and we're seeing spot fires and spot fire activity in that local area".

5.35pm AEST

The Wollondilly fire near Hall Road has been downgraded to 'watch and act' by the RFS, and Picton Road has been reopened.



5.04pm AEST

Police have confirmed the second arrest in relation to the Heatherbrae fire in a short statement:

    A 15-year-old boy has been arrested over the large bushfire that started in Heatherbrae last week.

    He’s currently at Raymond Terrace Police Station where he is expected to be charged.

    An 11-year-old boy was charged over the fire earlier today.

    No further details are available at this stage.

4.47pm AEST

Police have arrested a second boy over the Heatherbrae fire, according to the Newcastle Herald's police reporter Dan Proudman:

   
4.40pm AEST

Guardian Australia's political editor, Lenore Taylor, on the political debate around climate change policies and the bushfires:

    According to a creeping conservative political correctness, it is allegedly improper to discuss the link between climate change and the increased risk of devastating bushfires like the ones still burning across New South Wales.

    Columnists start by attacking suggestions such as those made in an article written for the Guardian by the Greens deputy leader, Adam Bandt, that by repealing the carbon tax, Tony Abbott is failing to protect the Australian people from climate change risk. Then they move quickly to the accusation that it amounts to politicising a disaster to discuss the connection between climate change and bushfire at all.

    But report after report has pointed to climate change increasing the likelihood of conditions that pose the greatest risk for fire.

Read the full article here.

4.18pm AEST
Two fires likely to merge, "can't rule out" three

Fitzsimmons said they "can't rule out" that the three fires will join together, but at this stage it is likelier to be two of them — the large state mine fire at Lithgow and the Mt Victoria fire.

"North of Bells Line Of Road, the fire out of Lithgow heading towards Bilpin, will join the fire near Mt York and Mt Victoria," somewhere in the Grose Valley, he predicted, saying backburning efforts have had an impact.



4.14pm AEST

In his latest update on the bushfire crisis, RFS NSW Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons has warned residents of Wilton to take shelter as embers travel kilometres ahead of the fire front. Firefighters are tasked to assist people in the area.

“The fire is well and truly heading towards Wilton," he said.

He also said they were "acutely aware" of the natural gas plant near Wilton. Extra services have been tasked to protect it.

Fitzsimmons blamed weather for the Springwood/Faulconbridge flare up where "dozens of homes" have been lost along Grose Road. It's not entirely clear if the houses have gone in the last few hours or if they are part of earlier assessments.

Both of these fires were upgraded to emergency warnings again just this afternoon. “The last hour or so reminds us to remain vigilant," said Fitzsimmons. "The fire grounds remain dynamic and challenging to firefighters."