<div dir="ltr"><div>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</div><div>--------------------------------------</div><div><br></div><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-20/sydney-braces-for-catastrophic-fire-danger-amid-record-heat">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-20/sydney-braces-for-catastrophic-fire-danger-amid-record-heat</a> <div><br></div><div><h1 class="gmail-lede-text-v2__hed" style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-family:BWHaasGrotesk-75Bold-Web,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;letter-spacing:-0.025em;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="4">Sydney Braces for ‘Catastrophic’ Fire Danger Amid Record Heat</font></h1><address class="gmail-lede-text-v2__byline" style="margin:0px 0px 3px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.32;font-family:BWHaasGrotesk-55Roman-Web,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;font-style:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="4">By <div class="gmail-author-v2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block"><a class="gmail-author-v2__byline" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/AG3AvoadHos/matthew-brockett" rel="author" style="background-color:transparent;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Matthew Brockett</a></div></font></address><div class="gmail-lede-text-v2__times" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.32;font-family:BWHaasGrotesk-55Roman-Web,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="4">December 20, 2019, 2:42 PM PST</font></div></div><div class="gmail-lede-text-v2__times" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.32;font-family:BWHaasGrotesk-55Roman-Web,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="gmail-lede-text-v2__times" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.32;font-family:BWHaasGrotesk-55Roman-Web,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><p style="margin:0px 0px 30px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;font-family:PublicoText-Roman-Web,Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;vertical-align:baseline">Australian authorities warned of “catastrophic” fire conditions in greater Sydney Saturday as more than 100 blazes burn across the state and a record heatwave continues.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 30px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;font-family:PublicoText-Roman-Web,Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:inherit;font-variant-caps:inherit;font-weight:inherit">New South Wales, Australia’s most-populous state, has declared an emergency as the heatwave that’s produced the hottest day on record exacerbates devastating bushfires. Today’s catastrophic warning, the highest level of danger, means fires could spread rapidly and will be extremely difficult to control. It is the second such warning for greater Sydney this season.</span></p><p style="margin:30px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;font-family:PublicoText-Roman-Web,Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;vertical-align:baseline">“We are expecting another very dangerous, another very difficult day today given the widespread geographic area of catastrophic fire danger ratings,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told a news conference. “Catastrophic fire danger is as bad as it gets.”</p><div class="gmail-hardwall" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;font-family:PublicoText-Roman-Web,Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;vertical-align:baseline"></div><div class="gmail-softwall" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;font-family:PublicoText-Roman-Web,Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;vertical-align:baseline"></div><p style="margin:30px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;font-family:PublicoText-Roman-Web,Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;vertical-align:baseline">The crisis could lead to road closures and diversions, potentially disrupting Christmas travel plans for thousands of Sydneysiders pouring out of the city for a summer break along the coast. Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday said he would cut short his vacation in Hawaii and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-19/wildfire-deaths-force-australia-pm-to-cut-short-hawaii-vacation" title="Wildfire Deaths Force Australia PM to Cut Hawaii Vacation (1)" target="_blank" style="background-color:transparent;margin:0px;padding:0px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(0,0,0);border-left-color:initial;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-decoration-line:none">apologized</a> for taking leave while the wildfires ravage Australia, reflecting the political pressure building on his government that denies the blazes are linked to climate change.</p><div class="gmail-hardwall" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;font-family:PublicoText-Roman-Web,Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;vertical-align:baseline"></div><div class="gmail-softwall" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;font-family:PublicoText-Roman-Web,Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;vertical-align:baseline"></div><p style="margin:30px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;font-family:PublicoText-Roman-Web,Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;vertical-align:baseline">In New South Wales alone, eight people have been killed, more than 6 million acres -- an area the size of Massachusetts -- have been burnt out and 800 houses destroyed since the fire season started unusually early this year. Fires are also raging in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 30px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;font-family:PublicoText-Roman-Web,Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;vertical-align:baseline">On Wednesday, the average maximum temperature across Australia reached 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 degrees Fahrenheit), surpassing the record 40.9 Celsius set a day earlier, according to the weather bureau. On Thursday it reached 41 Celsius, meaning those three days were the three hottest ever recorded. A temperature of 36 Celsius is forecast for Sydney today.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 30px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;font-family:PublicoText-Roman-Web,Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;vertical-align:baseline"><br></p></div><div class="gmail-lede-text-v2__times" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.32;font-family:BWHaasGrotesk-55Roman-Web,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="gmail-lede-text-v2__times" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.32;font-family:BWHaasGrotesk-55Roman-Web,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="4"><br></font></div></div>