Fire Crews Conducting Hazard Reduction Burns Around Bonnells Bay, Residents Urged to Prepare

BY ISABEL EVERETT

Fire and Rescue NSW crews from the Central Coast will be conducting a hazard reduction burn today (Monday 31st August), around Bonnells Bay, in the Lake Macquarie area.

The burn is scheduled to run from 10am for a number of hours and smoke is expected in the vicinity.

Residents in the area are advised to take the following precautions:

- Ensure windows and doors are closed to help prevent smoke entering their homes.
- Keep outdoor furniture under cover to prevent ember burns.
- Retract pool covers to prevent ember damage.
- Remove washing from clotheslines.
- Ensure pets have a protected area.
- Vehicles must slow down, keep windows up, turn headlights on.
- Sightseers must keep away from burns for their own safety.
- People with asthma or lung conditions are advised to reduce outdoor activities. If smoke levels are high and if shortness of breath or coughing develops, take your reliever medicine or seek medical advice.

Fire crews after advising anyone who spots a fire that is unattended, to call Triple Zero (000).

BREAKING! Firefighters Battling House Fire at Mayfield

BY MADELAINE MCNEILL

Fire crews are battling a house fire at Corona Street in Mayfield.

Nearby residents alerted emergency services to the blaze just before 2 o'clock and six fire crews have been called to the scene.

Newcastle Fire and Rescue reports nobody is trapped inside the building.

Firefighters are inside the building working to find the seat of the fire.

Firefighters on scene at the blaze

Chemical Exposure Incident at Mayfield West

BY MADELAINE MCNEILL

Thirteen people have been transported to hospital following a chemical release at Mayfield West this morning.

Just before 8am, NSW Ambulance and Fire and Rescue crews were called to the Modulate Containers site on Woodstock Street to reports of workers being exposed to a chemical believed to be Napthalene.

Fire crews have not confirmed the chemical and are listing it as an unknown chemical gas or fume.

The source of the release is yet to be identified but it's not believed to have originated on the Modulate Containers site.

Paramedics say a man in his 50s was taken to the Mater Hospital suffering nausea and a burning sensation in his throat, 12 other patients have since been taken to the Mater and John Hunter Hospitals suffering various levels of nausea and headaches.

All patients are in a stable condition.

A Fire and Rescue HAZMAT team was called to the scene from the Central Coast and crews remain on site to monitor the chemical's spread.

Caravan and Boat Destroyed In Fires At Kurri Kurri and Singleton

BY IAN CROUCH

Police are treating a fire which destroyed a caravan at Kurri Kurri early Monday morning as suspicious.

Fire crews arrived in Brooks Street just after 2 o'clock to find the caravan, which was parked on the street, engulfed in flames.

There were concerns about a couple of gas cylinders, but firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze without further incident.

Meanwhile, a boat stored in a shed at Singleton went up in flames late yesterday.

Crews were called to George Street just before 5.30pm on Sunday to find both well alight.

The shed was attached to a home which suffered smoke damage.

Police closed the New England Highway while crews battled the flames, which took about 2 hours to extinguish.

UPDATE 1PM: Fire Breaks Out on Ash Island

BY JESSICA ROUSE and IAN CROUCH

UPDATE: 1pm The fire burnt through 11 hectares and is now under control.

Crews still on the scene.

UPDATE: 10:37am The fire is now within containment lines at Ash Island.

Around 40 crew and a dozen trucks are still on the scene.

Fire and Rescue NSW say the fire should be out in the next couple of hours.

UPDATE: 9:37am Eight hectare of grass is now well alight and still moving.

Nine Fire and Rescue trucks, as well as one each of Rural Fire Service and National Parks are on the scene trying to extinguish the blaze.

A shed was under threat at around 9 o'clock, but is now being protected by fire fighters.

There's a fair bit of smoke hovering over Hexham and there is some traffic affected both directions on Maitland Road at Millams Road.

UPDATE: 8:10am Four hectares of grass is well alight on Ash Island

Four crews working to extinguish the blaze.

EARLIER:

Fire crews are trying to extinguish a blaze on Ash Island, Hexham which broke out this morning.

Four Fire and Rescue NSW trucks were called to reports of a car being set alight in bush off Maitland Road at Hexham just after 6 o'clock.

The car fire spread to some grass.

It comes after a car fire is thought to have started the massive blaze near Richmond Vale around Leggetts Drive which burnt through around 920 hectares this week.