New South Wales bushfires continue burning

Four Emergency level bushfires, west of Sydney, Australia, have been lowered in threat level according to the NSWRFS (New South Wales Rural Fire Service) after temperature and wind intensity lessened. The fires in/around Winmalee, Castlereagh, Windsor and Marsden Park have still been given a watch and act alert as a precautionary measure for residents nearby the fires. So far there have been no human fatalities associated with the bushfires that have raged all over New South Wales. However, according to Richard Davies of ABC, the ambulance services in the area are telling people to take defensive measures against inhalation of the fine particles being emitted from the fires in order to prevent respiratory damage. Although there has yet to be a death toll, reports of damage and destruction of homes by the flames and smoke of the brushfires has been confirmed. Reasoning behind the danger and speed of the brushfires was commented on by Trevor Hay, an ABC helicopter pilot who has observed the brushfires’ movements. Hay stated that “It is a very windy, gusty westerly wind blowing and there are fires everywhere. And this wind is picking up embers and dropping them for about a kilometre along, so there are spotting fires all over the place...” Despite emergency level reduction for the brushfires west of Sydney, they will continue to pose a potential risk to surrounding communities that have already felt the swift, merciless destruction that such fires can bring.