UPDATE Wednesday November 20
Glen Alice Public School will be closed on Wednesday, November 20, due to the ongoing fire danger posed by the Gospers Mountain fire, which is still burning out of control after burning more than 146,000 hectares.
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A community meeting will be held at 11am at Glen Davis Hall to update residents on the conditions in the area.
There was significant fire-fighting in the area last night on several of the fire fronts due to high winds.
The winds are not predicted to be as high today, but the fire danger will continue high this week as temperatures continue to reach past 30 degrees.
Fire-fighting efforts in the area have continued using heavy plant and aircraft.
The Glen Davis, Glen Alice, Newnes and surrounding areas have been on alert over the past few days, with all encouraged to have their bushfire survival plan in place and to know what they will do in case of a fire.
"Containment strategies have been implemented along the top of the escarpment above Glen Davis," the RFS stated.
The VLAT (vert large aerial tanker) has been dropping fire retardant on the top of the escarpment, while helicopters have been bucketing water to cool hotspots.
Glen Alice students will be relocating to Rylstone Public School.
Tuesday, November 19
A 'watch and act' alert has been issued on the Gospers Mountain fire.
The fire, which has burned more than 138,000 hectares in the Wollemi National Park, Yengo National Parks and Parr State Recreation areas, is spreading south west towards Colo Heights.
On the western edge of the fire, near Glen Davis and Glen Alice, residents have been urged to monitor conditions and be ready to leave early and to implement their bushfire survival plan.
Stay up to date via www.rfs.nsw.gov.au, by calling 1800 679 737 or through the Fires Near Me NSW smartphone app.
EARLIER Monday November 18
A bush fire community meeting was held at Glen Davis hall on Monday, November 18, to discuss the ongoing situation caused by the massive Gospers Mountain fire, which continues to burn out of control.
Smoke from the fire, which has burned more than 122,000 hectares in the Wollemi and Yengo National Parks and Parr State Recreation area, filled the Lithgow Valley Monday morning.
The active fire on the escarpment above these communities has progressed slowly through a hazard reduction area and is approximately 30 metres from the escarpment edge.
"The wind tomorrow [Tuesday, October 19] is what may cause it to drop off the escarpment and there is nothing between us and the escarpment, so we could see it slowly trickle down and we want residents to be prepared and ready," Chifley/Lithgow superintendent Greg Sim said.
The incident management team has developed a number of priority actions to try and protect the communities of Glen Alice and Glen Davis, Mr Sim said.
"We have 10 trucks on standby, water bombing aircrafts hitting the hot spots and over the weekend we used retardant lines which we have had great success with," he said.
According to Mr Sim this is all reliant on wind direction and fire behaviour.
The second option is to strengthen the Oil Pipeline track and undertake back burning operations around the affected communities.
"There will be more firefighters located in the community to protect properties where possible," he said.
"It is basically still watch and observe, we are keeping it on control of the edge and don't expect anything on this side for a while."
READ MORE: Small bushfire at Portland quickly contained
The Glen Alice brigade along with the National Parks and Wildlife Service is also carrying out prevention work. Capertee fire Captain Steve Dalli said his squad's commitment to neighbouring community Glen Davis was to support and protect.
"We have to be ready in case a spot fire hits on the other side of the Valley, across from the Great Western Highway in places such as Sofala and Capertee," he said.
"So I've been keeping my team fresh, and not putting all our eggs in one basket, just in case we need them to immediately be working on new fires, which is a possibility with the wind change that is expected."
The area of Newnes has also been put on alert.
A fire-fighting aircraft, which only recently finished testing, has been at work on the western edge of the Gospers Mountain fire near Glen Davis. The Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT).
"It has dropped two loads of retardant (over 30,000 litres) as part of the western containment option for the fire, east of Glen Davis and Glen Alice," the NSW RFS stated.
However, Chifley-Lithgow Rural Fire Service warned the aircraft's ability to operate in the area may be impacted by the amount of smoke in the area.
"There is no guarantee that fire fighters will show up at each property if something is to happen so be ready," Glen Alice fire captain Bruce Richardson said.
"If residents want to help us out, they can drive the roads and communicate to us whether they are seeing flame, not just smoke."
There will be another community meeting held at Glen Davis hall at 11am on Wednesday, November 20 to update residents on the fire.
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