Flare up today around Canberra and south east coast of nsw. Despite some rain on the fire grounds the return of extreme conditions (40C windy) was enough for several fires to erupt.
Three American firefighters killed when their water bombing plane crashed whilst fighting a fire near Canberra. Extremely dangerous conditions for flying - the Canberra airport is closed due to smoke haze - but those guys are flying right into the teeth of the fire - incredible bravery.

Here in northern nsw it's insanely hot but i can't seen any immediate fire danger due to the heavy rain last week and the sticky humidity. Temps this week running 5-7 C above ave.

Again, i'd question the thinking of climate change as being 1.5C warmer by whatever year. The way it seems to be working is that it's 6C above right now. It's more about when it cranks up than the overall mean temp. At 6 C above for an extended period, stuff starts to give. This can create knock-on effects such as a bump in C02 caused by the fire smoke

All this week, outside is virtually a 'no-go zone'. Went to do some shopping as it was too hot for anything - not surprisingly the shopping mall was packed with like-minded climate refugees. I wonder if people will be living in shopping malls in 10 years time and the outside world will be abandoned during summer?