Catastrophic Fire Conditions: Reserve, School and University Campus Closures

BY MADELAINE MCNEILL

The Hunter is bracing for catastrophic fire conditions on Tuesday amid an unprecedented bush fire crisis.

The Rural Fire Service is urging residents living close to the bush to prepare their homes now ahead of worsening conditions expected over the next 48 hours.

The RFS says homes are not designed to withstand these conditions and lives and property will be at risk if a fire starts and takes hold.

A Total Fire Ban is in force for the next two days.

Lake Macquarie Council has advised Doyalson RSL, Toronto Workers Club, Club Macquarie at Argenton and Wests Cardiff will serve as evacuation centres should severe bushfires take hold.


The University of Newcastle has announced it will close its Callaghan and Ourimbah campuses and the Hunter Medical Research Institute to ensure staff and student safety.

The University's Newcastle city and Sydney campuses will remain open.

Students with exams scheduled for closed campuses on Tuesday will now sit them on Saturday.

The NSW Department of Education has advised a number of Hunter schools, both government and non-government, will be closed on Tuesday. The full list can be found on the Department website.

The Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle has also advised the St Joseph's Aberdeen bus from Merriwa will not run on Tuesday.

A number of reserves have also been closed across the region as local councils react to predicted conditions.

In Lake Macquarie, Mount Sugarloaf and the Sugarloaf State Conservation Area, Fernleigh Track and Green Point Foreshore Reserve at Valentine are closed until Wednesday afternoon.

City of Newcastle has announced the closure of Blackbutt Reserve and says an emergency plan of management has been coordinated to ensure the welfare of staff and wildlife.

All Landcare sites and National Parks across the region, including Glenrock State Conservation Area, have also been closed with a reassessment scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Residents are urged to stay up to date with the situation via the Rural Fire Service website or the Fires Near Me App available on Android and Apple devices.

Image: ABC

End of bush fire season

The Hunter Valley Rural Fire Service is celebrating the end of a hectic bush fire season today

The end of the 2013-2014 season means permits are no longer required to do any burning in the open however residents of Singleton, Branxton, Musswellbrook and Denman still require permits from Fire and Rescue NSW

Super Intendant Paul Jones, from the Hunter Valley RFS says the Hunter Valley has a longer bush fire season than other parts of NSW

"Conditions were drier and we also had a number of lightening storms go trough the area that created fires in remote areas that required substantial effort to contain, so yeah, a bit busier than normal but we expect that in the Hunter Valley it's a very fire prone area."

Super Intendant Jones warns that residents still need to be wary, "they should be using the cooler weather and the more moister weather to make sure that their properties are well prepared, manage their assets protection zones around their assets, do any required burning off that they need to do, the RFS is more than happy to assist with that".

Power restorded in Port Stephens

Power has been restored to 35-thousand homes in Port Stephens following yesterday's devastating bush fires.

Light rain and cooler conditions has helped firefighters strengthen containment lines on 3 fires at Fingal Bay, Salt Ash and Heatherbrae.

Dozens of people were forced to spend the night at an evacuation centre set up at Willaimtown and there are still a number of road closures in place.

Brendan Doyle from the Rural Fire Service said crews have worked through the night to gain the upper hand on the fire.

"The Salt Ash fire that was burning for most of the day yesterday is now contained. Fire crews are working quite hard on the the Fingle Bay and Heatherbrae area to get containment as soon as possible through the day. Fortunately no threat to property at this stage." Mr Doyle said.