This archive report was first published on 12 November 2019.
On November 12, 2019, Australia was bracing for catastrophic bushfires as temperatures were expected to climb towards 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and winds were forecast to top 60 kilometres per hour in parts of New South Wales.
Firefighters warned of an unprecedented threat to a vast region surrounding Sydney, with three people already killed and over 150 homes destroyed in days of blazes.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons cautioned that in current conditions, 'if a fire starts and takes hold... we are not going to stop it.'
With west-to-east winds threatening to spread existing blazes from drought-stricken bushland to population centres on the coast, authorities took drastic measures, closing up to 600 schools, introducing a total fire ban, and advising residents in several areas to consider evacuating.
As the situation worsened, the police and military assisted firefighters with logistics and water-dropping sorties using over 80 aircraft.
Residents in the small northern town of Taree were among those forced to flee, with dozens moving to a showground that had become a makeshift evacuation centre.
