Home burnt by bushfire amid 40C heatwave and 90km/h winds
A bushfire in the western Sydney suburb of Northmead has been brought under control but only after a home was damaged.
The fire, near Moxham Park on Whitehaven Road in Northmead, travelled up an escarpment on Sunday afternoon and towards homes on the street, with firefighters scrambling to protect properties.
One house could be seen on fire in aerial footage.
The Rural Fire Service rushed multiple crews to the scene and helicopters scooped water out of the nearby Parramatta Lake to dump on the burning home.
But the blaze was deemed under control about 3pm, with firefighters and aircraft getting the upper hand and the threat to properties easing.
It comes as Sydney swelters through the second day of a heatwave that saw overnight November minimum temperature records tumble.
Overnight, Observatory Hill in central Sydney recorded a minimum 25.3C, shattering 1967's November record of 24.8C.
Damaging winds with gusts up to 90km/h are also hitting parts of Sydney as a low pressure trough passes over the area.
The temperature in parts of Sydney, including the CBD, reached 40C on Saturday while swathes of western NSW, South Australia and northern Victoria baked through even higher temperatures approaching 45C.
Cooler temperatures were not forecast to arrive until later on Sunday.
RFS Commissioner Rob Rogers said the service was on Sunday deploying "overwhelming force" to attack every major blaze.
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