Australia’s Hunter Valley is the next wine region to face the ravages of fire

Bush fires have broken out in New South Wales with the Hunter Valley and coastal wine regions the next to risk fire after California fires in the last month. The fires this year have been expected and warnings were given to the Australian government months ago that this fire season could be one of the worst for a while.

A week long state of emergency was declared on Monday with fire officials warning of “the most dangerous bush fire week this nation has ever seen” across New South Wales and parts of Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia.

It is the first time the official fire danger rating of “catastrophic” has been given from the Australian fire department since it was introduced in 2009.