The extreme heat prompted concerns NSW hospitals could see wait times in their emergency departments blow out.
Parts of North and West Queensland were also under a severe-to-extreme heatwave warning, while Victoria recovered from its hottest December day in years on Monday.
Some regions peaked at over 47 degrees.
Hundreds of firefighters continued to battle active bushfires across the state, with fire officials warning us it's time to get prepared.
And as we enter this fire season, experts warn we need to have a better understanding of what's behind the blazes.
Research revealed up to 40 per cent of bushfires in parts of Australia are deliberately lit by arsonists, and firebugs are responsible for some of our most devastating blazes.
A Royal Commission into Victoria's devastating Black Saturday fires in 2009 concluded at least 3 of the 15 fires that caused the greatest harm were started by arsonists.
In 2019, almost a hundred firebugs were blamed for destructive Queensland fires that destroyed homes and consumed thousands of hectares of bushland.
Professor Troy McEwan, a psychologist who specialises in assessing and treating problematic behaviour such as deliberate fire setting, told The Project that “about one in 100 people admit to lighting fires for no reason other than to enjoy it.”
“Mostly, people who set fires are young men. Often, if they’re people who’ve been caught, they’re people who have other troubles.”
“They’re not that different to people who do other kinds of problematic things. The only thing that differentiates that much is that they’re interested in fire.”
McEwan explained that it is not known why some people choose fire over other kinds of behaviour.
“If we know more about why people do it, we can kind of prevent it at lots of different levels. We can do prevention with young people before they start setting fires and do a lot more at early ages,” Professor McEwan said.
McEwan believes Australia could be doing more to combat the firebug issue.
“We have good research in the last 20 years that helps us know more, but the reality is there has been no consistent funding of fire-setting research in Australia.”
