{"id":333707,"date":"2025-12-07T23:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T23:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/333707\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T23:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T23:07:07","slug":"firefighter-dies-in-nsw-as-premier-warns-of-foreboding-start-to-bushfire-season-new-south-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/333707\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefighter dies in NSW as premier warns of \u2018foreboding\u2019 start to bushfire season | New South Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

A firefighter has died on the New South Wales<\/a> mid-north coast, as the state\u2019s premier issued a warning about a \u201cforeboding beginning\u201d to the bushfire season.<\/p>\n

The deputy secretary of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Alex Graham, on Monday confirmed the death of one of their firefighters.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt approximately 11pm Sunday, the firefighter was struck by a tree while working on a bushfire at Bulahdelah on the state\u2019s mid-north coast,\u201d Graham said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cFellow firefighters provided first aid until NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived at the scene. Our thoughts are with the firefighter\u2019s family during this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The premier, Chris Minns, said it was \u201cobviously a terrible reminder of how difficult and dangerous this work is and how the people who put their lives on the line to protect lives and property do an incredible job\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a deeply distressing turn of events, and a sad day for NSW this morning,\u201d Minns told ABC TV.<\/p>\n

There were about 700 firefighters across NSW working on Monday morning to contain blazes, including nine that remained uncontained.<\/p>\n

Minns said it was \u201cquite a foreboding beginning to the bushfire season\u201d, being only a couple of days into summer.<\/p>\n

Jihad Dib, the NSW emergency services minister, said the death was a reminder of the dangers that firefighters face.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are people who put themselves in harm\u2019s way to protect the community, and this particular person has made the ultimate sacrifice,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very, very sad day for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the NSW Rural Fire Service said 16 houses had been destroyed in a fire in Koolewong, not far from built-up areas on the Central Coast, with a further nine houses damaged and seven outbuildings destroyed.<\/p>\n

Another four homes were lost at Bulahdelah.<\/p>\n

Storms and damaging winds would keep fire danger high across parts of Australia, with authorities calling for vigilance after a weekend of significant losses.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Minns said December was shaping up as a particularly tough period for fire danger, owing to westerly winds and warmer waters off the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, we\u2019re likely to have more volatile weather periods in the years ahead due to the changing climate,\u201d the premier said.<\/p>\n

Bushfires destroyed homes in the Koolewong area on the Central Coast. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts\/EPA<\/p>\n

With easing conditions across NSW, firefighters supported by aircraft were continuing to strengthen containment lines. But authorities urged the community to stay vigilant.<\/p>\n

Federal and state disaster assistance funding has been activated across the Central Coast, mid coast, Upper Hunter, Muswellbrook, Warrumbungle and Dubbo regions.<\/p>\n

More than 250 firefighters, 50 trucks and nine aircraft battled the Koolewong blaze at its peak.<\/p>\n

In Tasmania, authorities confirmed a 700-hectare blaze at Dolphin Sands, near the Freycinet national park on the state\u2019s east coast, was contained after overnight rain.<\/p>\n

Nineteen homes were destroyed and 14 others damaged in the fire that was sparked in the seaside community on Thursday.<\/p>\n

More than 120 structures were damaged, including sheds, caravans, water tanks, carports, garages and electricity transmissions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith increasing winds and debris still present on properties, conditions pose safety risks to the community,\u201d Tasmania\u2019s fire and emergency services commissioner, Jeremy Smith, said.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s national annual average temperature is about 1.5C higher than in 1910<\/a>, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, and the climate crisis has increased the frequency and severity of extreme weather events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A firefighter has died on the New South Wales mid-north coast, as the state\u2019s premier issued a warning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-333707","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}