Bushfires raging across eastern Australia singed Sydney's suburbs on Tuesday, with firefighters scrambling planes and helicopters to douse a built-up neighbourhood with water and red retardant.

Experts have described the conditions as the worst on record, as spring temperatures climbed toward 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and winds topped 80 kilometres (50 miles) per hour across a zone which has been plagued by persistent drought.

Although the bushfire season is in its infancy, scientists predict it to be one of Australia's toughest ever, with climate change and unfavourable weather cycles helping created a tinderbox of strong winds, low humidity and high temperatures.

Twin blazes in the north shore suburb of Turramurra -- around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the centre of Australia's largest city -- tore through a eucalypt forest park and sparked spot fires in homes, before eventually being brought under control.

As night fell, authorities said they were bringing another "clearly suspicious" blaze in a national park in the city's southern suburbs under control.

Throughout the day, more than 300 bushfires burned up and down Australia's east coast, fanned by gale-force winds, scorching temperatures and tinder-dry bushland that has brought some of the most dangerous conditions the country has seen.

In Turramurra, gardens smouldered, thick smoke hung heavy in the air and cars, houses and roads were caked in raspberry-red retardant as if hit by a giant paintball.

"It was the embers that floated up that actually went across and set off spot fires in the front yards" resident Nigel Lush told AFP, adding that one roof had been set alight.

Another resident, Julia Gretton-Roberts, said the blaze spread shockingly quickly.

"Next thing I know the fire was opposite our house and it was massive and the police came and grabbed our kids and took them away," she said.

"My daughter is pretty freaked out."

Firefighter Andrew Connon told AFP "a number of homes were threatened but it was contained by the aerial bombing".

- 'Catastrophic conditions' -

From early morning thousands of firefighters spread out across New South Wales in anticipation of what they called "off the scale" fire risk and "catastrophic" conditions.

They were unable to prevent several bushfires from breaching containment lines and trapping residents who had not already evacuated.

New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said so far only a dozen buildings had been damaged Tuesday and a handful non-life-threatening injuries were reported, but the crisis was far from over.

Firefighters will be "working on these fires for days and weeks given the enormity of the firegrounds," he said.

Even before unfavourable weather hit, days of fires had killed three people and destroyed at least 150 homes.

"The conditions are expected to get worse," Fitzsimmons said, warning residents in adjacent areas to stay alert.

"Complacency kills," he added.

Up to 600 schools were closed, as well as many national parks, a total fire ban was introduced for the affected area and Rally Australia -- due to be held in Coffs Harbour at the weekend -- was cancelled.

The military pitched in, helping firefighters with logistics and water-dropping sorties using more than 100 aircraft.

- 'We'll fight it first' -

In the town of Hillville a fire that has ripped through an area the size of 25,000 soccer fields approached the home of Daniel Stevens.

Like many, his family -- including his mother nursing a broken leg -- have packed their bags, but have resisted leaving their house and everything they own.

"We'll fight it first," he told AFP, "but if it jumps the fence line into the paddock, we'll go."

In the nearby town of Taree, dozens of people have already moved to a showground that has become a makeshift evacuation centre.

Fifty-nine-year-old Caroline Watson arrived last night with her husband and their dog.

"The fires are just rife. They are absolutely everywhere" she told AFP. "They didn't ask us to get out, but we figured it was coming."

Further south in the Blue Mountains on the outskirts of Sydney, veteran Winmalee firefighter Alan Gardiner said locals were "terrified and on edge".

The town still bears the scars of a 2013 blaze that destroyed 200 homes, and residents are acutely aware that with few roads in and out of the mountains, a decision to leave late can be fatal.

Efforts to burn fuel in a controlled way have been limited by months of drought-like conditions that made it too dangerous.

Ten ways climate change can make wildfires worse
Paris (AFP) Nov 12, 2019 - Wildfires such as those raging across eastern Australia have become more common across the world in recent years. AFP talked to scientists about the ways in which climate change can make them worse.

Other factors have also fuelled an increase in the frequency and intensity of major fires, including human encroachment on wooded areas, and questionable forest management.

"The patient was already sick," said David Bowman, a professor of environmental change biology at the University of Tasmania and a wildfire expert.

"But climate change is the accelerant."

- Fine weather for a fire -

Any firefighter can tell you the recipe for "conducive fire weather": hot, dry and windy.

No surprise, then, that many of the tropical and temperate regions devastated by a surge in forest fires are those predicted in climate models to see higher temperatures and more droughts.

"Besides bringing more dry and hot air, climate change -- by elevating evaporation rates and drought prevalence -- also creates more flammable ecosystems," noted Christopher Williams, director of environmental sciences at Clark University in Massachusetts.

- More fuel -

Dry weather means more dead trees, shrubs and grass -- more fuel for the fire.

"All those extremely dry years create an enormous amount of desiccated biomass," said Michel Vennetier, an engineer at France's National Research of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA).

"That's an ideal combustible."

- Change of scenery -

To make matters worse, new species better adapted to semi-arid conditions grow in their place.

"Plants that like humidity have disappeared, replaced by more flammable plants that can withstand dry conditions, like rosemary, wild lavender and thyme," said Vennetier.

"The change happens quite quickly."

- Thirsty plants -

With rising mercury and less rain, water-stressed trees and shrubs send roots deeper into the soil, sucking up every drop of water they can to nourish leaves and needles.

That means the moisture in the earth that might have helped to slow a fire sweeping through a forest or garrigue is no longer there.

- More lightning -

"The warmer it gets, the more lightning you have," said Mike Flannigan, a professor at the University of Alberta, Canada and director of the Western Partnership for Wildland Fire Science.

At the same time, he noted that 95 percent of wildfires worldwide are started by humans.

- Weakened jet stream -

Normal weather patterns over North America and Eurasia depend heavily on the powerful, high-altitude air currents -- produced by the contrast between polar and equatorial temperatures -- known as the jet stream.

But global warming has raised temperatures in the Arctic twice as fast as the global average, weakening those currents.

"We are seeing more extreme weather because of what we call blocked ridges, which is a high-pressure system in which air is sinking, getting warmer and drier along the way," said Flannigan.

"Firefighters have known for decades that these are conducive to fire activity."

- El Nino -

In the southern hemisphere, the periodic -- every two to seven years -- weather cycle known as El Nino leads to reduced rainfall, warmer temperatures and increased fire risk in Indonesia and eastern Australia, especially the southeast. The current fires, however, are not influenced by an El Nino event.

- Unmanageable intensity -

Climate change not only boosts the likelihood of wildfires, but their intensity as well.

"If the fire gets too intense" as in Australia right now, and in Greece last summer -- "there is no direct measure you can take to stop it," said Flannigan.

"It's like spitting on a campfire."

- Beetle infestations -

With rising temperatures, beetles have moved northward into Canada's boreal forests, wreaking havoc -- and killing trees -- along the way.

"Bark beetle outbreaks temporarily increase forest flammability by increasing the amount of dead material, such as needles," said Williams.

- Positive feedback -

Globally, forests hold about 45 percent of Earth's land-locked carbon and soak up a quarter of human greenhouse gas emissions.

But as forests die and burn, some of the carbon is released back into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change in a vicious loop that scientists call "positive feedback."

Related Links
Forest and Wild Fires - News, Science and Technology

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Australia bushfires hit Sydney suburbs
Sydney (AFP) Nov 12, 2019
Bushfires reached within kilometres (miles) of Sydney's city centre Tuesday prompting firefighting planes to spray red retardant over trees and houses in a northern suburb. Authorities said they had one fire in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia's biggest city, under control though another one was out of control. Aerial footage showed flames burning through a eucalypt forest in Turramurra on Sydney's north shore, around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the centre of the city. Firefighters were ... read more