Off the scale fire risk for NSW for Tue 8/1/2013

[tasadam]

UPDATE - NSW statewide fire ban continues into Wednesday.
A warning, from midnight 7th January, the whole of NSW will be a total fire ban.
Words as strong as "DO NOT BE IN A BUSHFIRE PRONE AREA TOMORROW".
Premier states possibly worst fire risk day ever in the state.
Further details HERE (check the video).
All parks are closed as per this topic.
Take care, people.

[melinda]

Received following message on my mobile a little while ago:

"Catastrophic Fire Danger tomorrow for Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern Ranges. Not being in a bush fire prone area is the safest option"
http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au

Wow, is every one getting these messages?

[FatCanyoner]

Melinda, that message has gone out to every single mobile phone in the three areas of the state facing "Catastrophic" fire danger -- the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern Ranges.

It is actually one of the really exciting innovations that has occurred in recent years. They don't need to know who you are or where you live, they can simply send the message to every phone currently in a geographic area. It can be more localised too, so if there are serious fires today, people expected to be in their path will receive notifications. This means people who may not be listening to the radio or monitoring the web are still kept in the loop of developing risks. I am pretty sure they also have some sort of auto-call system that rings landlines with a voice message in an emergency.

[Lizzy]

Yep I got the message to mobile & landline

[tasadam]

UPDATE - NSW statewide fire ban continues into Wednesday.

[DaveNoble]

The fire ban has been extended but it looks like National Parks will be open tomorrow.

Dave

[Onestepmore]

Yep I got the message to mobile & landline

I got it on my mobile
We got the message on our home landline
Hubby got it on his mobile directly
Then he got it from one of his clinics (diverted to his mobile after hours)
Then he got it from the backline diverted
Then he got it from his second clinic
Then he got it from his second clinic backline
Then we started to get them again as we hadn't directly checked the message and noted it as 'read' .......

Stay safe everyone

[ULWalkingPhil]

Makes me angry, when I see fools throwing out there ciggerates as there driving, the trail of sparks left behind is more than enough to start a fire.

[Lizzy]

Makes me angry, when I see fools throwing out there ciggerates as there driving, the trail of sparks left behind is more than enough to start a fire.

Yep I would like to send an automatic rocket at any car that does this

[DaveNoble]

The fire ban has been extended but it looks like National Parks will be open tomorrow.

Dave

Just checked again - Blue Mts and Gardens of Stone are open, but Wollemi NP is still closed till Monday 14th

Dave

[FatCanyoner]

Just checked again - Blue Mts and Gardens of Stone are open, but Wollemi NP is still closed till Monday 14th

My heart missed a beat when I saw your message, given I'm heading off for four days of canyoning from Friday. Thankfully a quick check of the map and I'm all good. I forgot how far north the Wollemi NP starts on the Newnes Plateau. I'll never complain about those odd boundaries again!!!

[DaveNoble]

This was posted by a NPWS employee (and canyoner) on the oz.canyons list -

I just checked with the fire operations at NPWS Blackheath.

Wollemi National Park is NOT closed.

The website will be fixed (the 'ends Monday' is an error)

All parks in the Blue Mountains area are CURRENTLY open.

Good news

Dave

[beachcruiser]

We walked out of the Budawangs at Sassafras on Monday arvo after a HOT 3 day walk, there was a note from NPWS on the car saying the park would be closed from midnight, which of course we wouldn't have got if we'd been out for longer! Very glad we weren't walking out on Tuesday tho' would have been insanely hot and scary as I'm sure we'd have been getting wiffs of the smoke from the Dean's Gap fire, plus would have had to get back to Wollongong the long way via Braidwood and Goulburn with the Turpentine road closed due to the fire!

[ferozious]

The current message on NPWS / Environment NSW site currently states:

ALL TRACKS AND TRAILS CLOSED FOR WALKING, HORSE-RIDING AND CYCLING FROM FRIDAY, 11 JANUARY TO MONDAY 14 JANUARY

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/natio ... osure.aspx

If you go to the individual park pages though, there doesn't appear to be any closures between Friday and Monday.