Hot and strong winds in Wagga forced the city’s fire danger warning up to “very high” this afternoon.
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What began as light winds this morning quickly turned into forceful westerly gusts travelling as fast as 40 kilometres per hour by the middle of the day.
Despite the very high fire danger reading, firefighters at Turvey Park said there were luckily no incidents to report since the hot winds picked up earlier today.
Firefighters said days like this with hot, strong winds can drive the fire danger reading up because, if a fire does break out, it will grow in size much quicker than usual.
Hot winds also cause the materials that catch fire, such as grass, to dry out, which means firefighters need to commit more resources and act with greater urgency if they are to contain the blaze.
The winds are expected to slow to a much calmer 20 to 30 kilometres per hour when they turn southerly this evening.