Скачать или смотреть Australia Bushfires Rage: NSW Catastrophic Fires, 70+ Blazes, Koolewong Homes Burned, Thousands Flee

As the sun rose over Australia's New South Wales on Sunday, December 7, 2025, the acrid stench of smoke hung heavy in the air, a grim harbinger of a bushfire season that has ignited into a full-scale crisis, with authorities urging thousands of residents to flee under the highest danger rating as more than 70 blazes—20 of them uncontained—rage across the state, burning through tens of thousands of hectares of bushland and destroying at least 16 homes in the waterfront suburb of Koolewong on the Central Coast, where flames leaped a kilometer over water to raze an entire neighborhood in minutes, forcing frantic evacuations and leaving families like the Saxons sifting through ashes for remnants of their lives. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) escalated warnings to "catastrophic" level for multiple fronts, including the Upper Hunter and Central Coast, where the Koolewong fire—sparked by dry lightning amid record-hot, windy conditions—exploded from a grass fire into an inferno that consumed 12 homes along Glenrock Parade and four more in Bulahdelah by Saturday evening, prompting a natural disaster declaration for affected local government areas and unlocking emergency funding for recovery as Premier Chris Minns toured the smoldering ruins, vowing "we'll rebuild stronger, but right now, lives are at stake." "This is a dire situation—winds of 50-70 km/h are fanning flames that have already burned 10,000 hectares in the Hunter alone; if you're in the path, leave now if safe, or shelter in place; we've got 20 uncontained fires, and with temperatures pushing 38°C and humidity at 15%, containment could take days," NSW RFS Commissioner Rob Rogers warned in a Sunday morning press conference, as aerial water bombers from the National Aerial Firefighting Centre dropped retardant over hotspots, but spot fires jumped containment lines, threatening Sydney's northern suburbs and forcing the evacuation of 5,000 people statewide, with Gosford RSL Club transformed into a makeshift shelter overflowing with displaced families clutching pets and photo albums.

The bushfires' fury erupted amid a "difficult" summer forecast by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who on Sunday announced disaster payments for affected residents and federal support for NSW's firefighting efforts, echoing the "Black Summer" horrors of 2019-20 that scorched an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people, but this early outbreak—fueled by a prolonged drought, El Niño's lingering effects, and climate-amplified heat—has already razed 25,000 hectares across the state, with the Koolewong blaze alone charring 500 hectares in hours, leaping Brisbane Water to devour luxury waterfront homes worth millions, where residents like Craig and Sarra Saxon-Gill had mere minutes to escape, grabbing their dogs and parrot before flames engulfed their property. "We smelled the smoke first—it was just behind the hill; I told Sarra to grab the pets and anything important and get out; we lost everything, but we're alive," Craig Saxon recounted at the Gosford RSL evacuation center, where 500 locals huddled Sunday, the club "inundated" with donations of food, toiletries, and even spare homes from compassionate neighbors, as Premier Minns praised the community's spirit but decried the fires' speed: "These blazes are moving faster than we've seen, jumping water and highways; we've got 70 fires, 20 uncontained, and crews working 24/7, but we need everyone to heed the warnings."

Central Coast and Upper Hunter bore the brunt: in Koolewong, a fast-moving grass fire sparked by dry lightning at 2 p.m. Saturday exploded into a wall of flames that overran 12 homes by dusk, with firefighters from 20 brigades battling spot fires that jumped a kilometer over Brisbane Water, halting train services on the Central Coast line and closing the M1 Pacific Motorway for 4 hours after embers ignited roadside vegetation. In Bulahdelah, four more homes fell to a separate front that scorched 10,000 hectares, forcing 2,000 evacuations as RFS crews back-burned containment lines, but high winds of 60 km/h scattered embers, threatening Gloucester and Dungog with emergency warnings that echoed across the state. The NSW government declared natural disasters for Port Stephens, Central Coast, and Mid-Coast LGAs, unlocking $1 million in immediate relief, while Albanese pledged federal aid, warning of a "difficult" season ahead after several quiet years, with climate scientists at CSIRO attributing the intensity to warmer, drier conditions that dry out eucalyptus fuels faster, increasing fire spread by 20-30% since the 2019-20 Black Summer.

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