The council confirmed the event would proceed as planned this morning.

“We appreciate the concerns people have around holding the Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks while large parts of Australia deal with bushfires and drought,” the City of Sydney said in a statement.

Fireworks erupt over Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House last New Year’s Eve. Picture: Peter Parks/AFPSource:AFP

“But we can’t cancel the New Year’s Eve celebrations.

“It would have little practical benefit for affected communities.”

The council’s statement follows a report in The Sunday Telegraph this morning that said crisis talks were held between the Department of Premier and Cabinet, the council, the Rural Fire Service and NSW Police yesterday to discuss how it Tuesday’s extreme fire danger would impact the fireworks.

The fireworks are a huge tourist drawcard for Sydney. Picture: AAP Image/Brendan EspositoSource:AAP

The report said the event could be cancelled at the last minute if fire conditions were deemed “catastrophic” on New Year’s Eve.

However, the council has stressed this morning it would “continue to liaise” with the NSW Government and the RFS “to determine the safest way to proceed with the event” if a total fire ban was declared.

“In the event of high winds, the City of Sydney will assess the conditions with fireworks director Fortunato Foti,” the council said.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore says she is ‘deeply saddened’ by the bushfire crisis, but the fireworks will still go ahead. Picture: Richard DobsonSource:News Corp Australia

The council said too much planning has gone into the fireworks for them to be called off at the 11th hour.

“We began preparations and planning for the NYE celebrations 15 months ago,” the statement read.

“This means most of the budget, largely used for crowd safety and cleaning measures, has already been spent.

“Cancelling the event would seriously hurt Sydney businesses. It would also ruin plans for tens of thousands of people from across the country and overseas who would have booked flights, hotel and restaurants for New Year’s Eve.”

The council said it had listened to the concerns of those worried about the fires and announced it had donated $620,00 to “support communities and wildlife impacted by bushfire and drought, and offered our trucks and staff to help emergency services with clean-up and recovery efforts”.

The council will also promote the Red Cross Disaster Recovery and Relief Fund during the ABC broadcast of the fireworks and links to the online fundraiser will be displayed on the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylons.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said all of Sydney had been “deeply saddened” by the impact of the bushfires.

“Sydney’s New Year’s Eve unites people from all over the world with a message of hope for the year to come,” she said.

“We have committed to harnessing the enormous power of the event to raise more money for drought and fire-affected communities, with money going to the Australian Red Cross.”