Gladys Berejiklian Has Declared A State Of Emergency For NSW Starting Tomorrow

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has declared a formal State Of Emergency covering all of NSW that will come into effect tomorrow, as the state stares down the barrel of more days of catastrophic fire conditions, forecast for this weekend.

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The emergency declaration, which covers a seven-day period beginning tomorrow, allows fire and rescue authorities the ability to forcibly evacuate people who refuse to leave areas in the danger zone, which includes tourists. It will also give authorities greater scope to allow safe travel through fire affected roads and regions, and allow people caught in the fire zone a better chance to evacuate safely.

Speaking to media alongside NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, Berejiklian stated “We don’t take these decisions lightly but we also want to make sure we’re taking every single precaution to be prepared for what could be a horrible day on Saturday.”

The Premier confirmed what we already knew, that weather conditions on Saturday are set to be as bad – if not worse – than those faced by scores of towns on New Year’s Eve.

Berejiklian stated “We know temperatures will be in the mid-40s in parts of the state. We also know that there are a lot of tourists on the move and allowing us to declare the state of emergency from tomorrow morning will allow us to ensure that we can provide safe access to roads when we need to, we can also provide safe access provide safe access to roads when we need to, we can also provide safe access to and from destinations as we have been encouraging people to move back home, to travel safely ahead of what will been very difficult circumstances on Saturday.”

Of particular concern, according to Fitzsimmons, is fire activity in the Shoalhaven area that has flared up this afternoon and impacted access to the Princes Highway in certain stretches.

Saturday is predicted to be the worst day as far as weather conditions are concerned. A southerly wind change is forecast, but is not expected to start moving through the worst impacted areas until at least mid-afternoon.

Fitzsimmons confirmed that there are 113 fires still burning across NSW.

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