Parents living within bushfire-prone areas in New South Wales are being warned that their local schools may close on days of increased risk.
Catastrophic bushfire conditions forced 26 public schools across the NSW Central West and Riverina to close last Wednesday, and there are now warnings that the risk to bushfire-prone areas in NSW will continue to increase through to March 2026.
The NSW Rural Fire Service is now urging people living in these communities to be on alert this summer.
The NSW Education Department said the decision to move a school site to being “non-operational” was not taken lightly.
“Decision-making around bushfire risk is informed by ensuring the safety of students and staff and is made in consultation with emergency services,” the Department said in a statement.
“The Department of Education works closely with the Rural Fire Service [RFS] to make sure decisions are based on the latest information available and communicated with school communities the day before they need to take action.”
The National Council for Fire and Emergency Services warns NSW faces a heightened fire risk this summer, with the Bureau of Meteorology tipping hotter-than-average conditions nationwide.
In the Riverina, one school has already used last week’s catastrophic fire warning to alert parents it will shut its doors on future high-risk days to protect students, staff and the wider community.
“Our school is in a bushfire prone area and is identified as Category 2 on the NSW Department of Education’s bushfire risk register,” the school wrote to its community.
“This means our school will be non-operational when the NSW Rural Fire Service declares catastrophic fire danger ratings for the Riverina, or when the NSW Department of Education, in consultation with emergency services, direct it due to local bushfire activity or higher risk conditions.”
The school noted that while fire danger ratings don’t necessarily mean there will be a bushfire, they indicate that weather conditions pose a high risk if a fire were to start in the area.
“This measure is proactive to ensure staff, students and the community remain safe,” the school wrote. “We will inform the school community after 4pm if there is a change to the school’s operational status for the following day.”
Conditions have eased in parts of NSW, but the RFS cautioned communities to be vigilant.
“We still want people to make sure they’ve got a bushfire survival plan in place, monitor conditions and just keep an eye out,” ABC News quoted Superintendent Stephen Quinlan as saying.
“The wind is the thing that’s going to push fires along. We’ve got the fuel loads, it’s all cured, it’s dry. Without the wind it just sort of meanders around, but the wind, it can move a fire at the same speed as the wind speed.”
*The original version of this story was first published by ABC News.