Firefighter killed as out-of-control bushfires destroy homes in Australia

More than 50 bushfires were burning across New South Wales on Monday, nine of them out of control, according to the RFS

An Australian firefighter has been killed while battling bushfires north of Sydney, as dozens of blazes continue to burn across two states in what authorities warn is the start of a dangerous summer fire season.

The 59-year-old volunteer died on Sunday night after a tree fell on him while he was working on a fireground near Bulahdelah, around 200km north of Sydney. Emergency crews said he went into cardiac arrest and died at the scene.

Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Trent Curtin said the man had been fighting a blaze that had already razed 3,500 hectares (8,650 acres) and destroyed four homes over the weekend.

“He could not be resuscitated,” Mr Curtin said, adding that firefighters expected to be battling the blaze for days.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese said the “terrible news is a sombre reminder” of the dangers emergency workers face.

“We honour that bravery, every day,” he said in a statement.

Ruins of buildings and a car smolder after a wildfire destroyed houses in Koolewong, Australia (AP)

More than 50 bushfires were burning across New South Wales on Monday, nine of them out of control, according to the RFS. Around 20 homes were destroyed over the weekend, including at least 16 on the Central Coast, a commuter belt region just north of Sydney.

In Koolewong, one of the worst-hit areas, residents described fleeing with only seconds to spare as the fire tore through streets.

“He’s up there in his bare feet trying to put it out… everything’s in it… it’s all gone, the whole lot,” local resident Rouchelle Doust told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Another resident told the BBC: “You had no time to even think... we've lost everything, all we've got left is what we're wearing.”

Conditions eased overnight, allowing authorities to downgrade warnings, but fire crews said heat, wind and dry vegetation remained a concern.

On the island state of Tasmania, a 700-hectare blaze at Dolphin Sands destroyed 19 homes and damaged 40 more, officials said.

The fire has been contained but the road into the community remains closed and it is “not yet safe for residents to return,” local official Dick Shaw told ABC.

Australia is facing what authorities describe as a “high-risk” bushfire season, with forecasters warning of extreme heat between December and February after several mild La Niña summers.

New South Wales is among the country’s most fire-prone regions. Experts say the climate crisis is increasing the risk by raising temperatures, drying out vegetation and extending the length of the fire season. Australia’s Black Summer fires of 2019–2020 burned an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people.

Fire crews in NSW and Tasmania said they expected conditions to worsen again later this week as temperatures climb.