Fire intensified on the western side of the Gospers Mountain fire on Thursday night, resulting in the closure of Newnes State Forest on Friday morning, November 22.
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A watch and act alert was put in place on Thursday evening, but conditions had calmed again by Friday morning. Residents in the Newnes and Glen Alice areas have been urged to monitor conditions. The fire has burned more than 171,000 hectares through the Wollemi and Yengo National Parks and the Parr State Recreation Area.
The closure of the Newnes area, which includes the iconic glowworm tunnel, will remain in place until further notice, Forestry Corporation of NSW regional manager Jason Molkentin said.
"There is a large dangerous fire in the adjoining national park, the landscape is incredibly dry and we expect the high fire danger to continue for the foreseeable future," Mr Molkentin said.
"The fire in the adjoining [Wollemi] national park continues to grow and conditions could change quickly. In addition, when it's this dry, even a small spark from an exhaust pipe can start a fire, so we also want to minimise the chance of anyone inadvertently starting a new fire in the forest.
"In the current conditions, we are seeing erratic fire behaviour and unpredictable rates of spread. This is a large forest, we have no way of knowing who is in there, parts of the forest have limited mobile phone reception and it would be extremely challenging to evacuate.
"We would be extremely concerned about people's welfare in the event of a fire and cannot take the risk of having people in Newnes State Forest at all until we have substantial rain."
Newnes is a popular destination for 4WD enthusiasts and trail bikers.
"If you had plans to travel to Newnes in the coming weeks, please reschedule, as the forest will be closed until further notice. Closure signs will be placed at the major entrances near the Zig Zag Railway and along State Mine Gully Road," Mr Molkentin said.
A large number of other State forests remain closed until further notice, and Forestry Corporation is continuing to close forests periodically in line with shifting fire conditions.
