'That's Huge': Towering Bushfire Smoke Seen From Plane in Passenger Video

A passenger on board a Melbourne to Brisbane flight captured plumes of thick grey smoke on December 16, thrown up by some of the bushfires burning along Australia’s east coast.

The New South Wales Rural Fire Services was reporting 118 active fire grounds on December 16, though it said conditions were beginning to ease by the evening.

Earlier, fresh emergency warnings were issued for an out-of-control bushfire threatening homes in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales.

The more than 378,000 hectare Gospers Mountain bushfire was travelling quickly toward the Wolgan Valley area with residents urged to take cover, as it was “too late to leave”.

“Protect yourself from the heat of the fire,” an alert from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said. Credit: Craig Lauman via Storyful