The haze in the air around Mount Isa is a small reminder for us in the north west of the bushfires that are devastating other parts of Queensland and New South Wales.
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As I write this on Thursday cooler temperatures on Thursday will provide exhausted firefighters with some respite before it heats up again on the weekend.
The State of emergency remains in place until early next week.
More than $50 million in estimated insured losses have been claimed following the NSW and Queensland bushfires with plenty more to come, according to the industry's national peak body.
Insurance Council Australia said more than 450 claims had been made from catastrophe areas as of 2pm on Wednesday, including 80 properties that could be total losses.
In New South Wales alone there are more than 70 fires burning across the state with about 40 uncontained and more than a dozen at "watch and act" alert level.
More than 300 homes have been severely damaged or destroyed with more than 1.1 million hectares burned - that's more than the combined total for the past three bushfire seasons.
Three people have died since Friday - two people in the Kangawalla blaze near Glen Innes and one in the Crowdy Bay fire near Taree.
Meanwhile there are over 50 fires burning across the state, three of major concern - Cobraball near Yeppoon in central Queensland, Cooroibah on the Sunshine Coast and Thornton in the Lockyer Valley.
Nine homes destroyed, including eight in the Cobraball blaze and one in the Cooroibah fire, with other structures including farm sheds lost and 11,000 hectares burnt in central Queensland.
We have been lucky so far in our part of the world but it is a reminder for people in the north west to have their own bushfire survival plan.
The Rural Fire Service have a great resource on what you should do.
It talks about who and what should go (pets, livestock etc), where will they go and what will they take.
You should also consider what you need in your bushfire survival kit.
This is the new normal - and we need to plan for it.