Rural Fire Service NSW has placed a total fire ban in Sydney for the first time in three years. While an extreme hot weather has been surrounding the South-east part of Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology formally declared an El Niño on Tuesday, 2 months after the US.

While 21 local schools across New South Wales were closed on Tuesday due to severe fire danger alert, some experts explained the rationale of the recent decisions made and where this heatwave is taking us.

Image: shutterstock – aleks333

Produced By: David Zhuang

Featured In Story: Helen Reid – Bureau of Meteorology, and Greg Allan, Senior Media and Communications Officer – NSW Rural Fire Service

First aired on The Wire, Wednesday 20 September 2023