Bushfire crisis to last 'for weeks'

FIRE crews will have a 24-hour window in which to gain the upper hand on dozens of bushfires in NSW.

FIRE crews battling blazes that have destroyed several communities across NSW will have a 24-hour window in which to gain the upper hand on dozens of bushfires, before potentially catastrophic conditions return tomorrow.

As hundreds of shell-shocked families returned to inspect the smouldering ruins of their properties yesterday, the Bureau of Meteorology predicted temperatures would reach the mid-30s tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday in the fire-affected areas west of Sydney.

NSW Rural Fire Services (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warned that the state's bushfire emergency was likely to continue for "weeks, not days" and this week's blazes would be "remembered as some of the most damaging, destructive and devastating fires in NSW history". The damages bill is expected to hit the hundreds of millions of dollars.

So far there is one recorded fatality from the bushfires. Retiree Walter Linder, 63, died on Thursday night from a suspected heart attack while trying to defend his home from a blaze at Lake Munmorah, 80km north of Sydney.

This morning 83 fires were burning across the state, including 19 uncontained blazes. West of the Blue Mountains the RFS was concerned about a fire in Lithgow that was burning over 28,000 hectares and could tear through the mountains if the wind changed direction.

A fire at Winmalee was also unlikely to be contained ahead of the changing conditions, while a 10,000 hectare fire in Balmoral remained active after crossing multiple roads, RFS Deputy Commission Rob Rogers said.

In Wyong, the threat to properties was reduced after a fire at Ruttleys Road burnt more than 2500 hectares.

"We have more than 500km of fire perimeter at the moment ... we're by no means out of the woods,'' Mr Rogers told ABC radio. "It's just calmed down a little bit and obviously we're bracing ourselves for these worsening conditions.''

FIRE ZONES

BUSHFIRE MAP: NSW Rural Fire Service current incident updates

The RFS said today that more than 300 properties in the lower Blue Mountains had been been damaged or destroyed. After assessing 95 per cent of the fireground in Springwood and Winmalee the RFS established that 193 properties had been destroyed and 109 had been damaged. That number could change following more investigations involving other fire-hit areas.

GALLLERY: NSW bushfires

The Weekend Australian yesterday saw more than 100 homes that had been reduced to nothing more than smouldering ash. Up to a dozen homes are also thought to have been destroyed at Catherine Hill Bay on the state's central coast, while in the southern highlands township of Balmoral a couple of homes were lost on Thursday.

The federal government yesterday announced disaster relief payments of $1000 per adult and $400 per child for people whose homes had been severely damaged or destroyed, or if they have been severely injured or lost a family member. The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payments are available to residents of the Blue Mountains, Lithgow, Muswellbrook, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Port Stephens, Wyong and Wingecarribee and are in addition to the joint funded commonwealth-state Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, which provided assistance to individuals and families, including emergency food, clothing and accommodation.

Arson is being investigated as a possible cause in all of the fires, but there is no evidence as yet that any of the blazes were deliberately lit, according to the RFS.

Two girls aged 12 and 13 were questioned by police and released yesterday after members of the public reported seeing the girls trying to start a fire in Bonnyrigg reserve in Sydney's west. Firefighters later put out a blaze in the area that burned up to 30 square metres of native grass.There were reports last night that fallen power lines had caused the blaze at Mount Victoria, while a scrub fire in Leppington, in southwest Sydney, was believed to have been lit by a discarded cigarette.

The ferocity of the early-season bushfires has terrified residents who live near bushland. RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers last night warned it could be a particularly dangerous summer. "This is not even one month into spring and we've already been incredibly busy and, if this is a sign of what's to come for summer, people need to reconsider their position in the case of a bushfire and download a bushfire management plan from our website," he said.

Nearly all those who escaped the bushfires in the Blue Mountains on Thursday spoke of the astonishing speed with which the firestorm struck.

Many residents were unaware of the seriousness of the threat until flames began licking their properties. Phil Koperberg, the former Rural Fire Service commissioner and NSW environment minister, who has been appointed Blue Mountains Emergency Recovery Co-ordinator, said some had reported a whiff of smoke, "and 30 seconds later their houses were on fire".

The Bureau of Meteorology and the RFS were yesterday forced to defend claims they had issued inadequate warnings of the impending bushfire threat, with some residents querying why they had not received text-message warnings about the bushfires until after their homes were alight.

"Under the sorts of conditions that we saw yesterday, I cannot guarantee, and I will not guarantee, that warnings will be out for fires that start and develop and spread quickly on those sorts of days," Mr Fitzsimmons said.

"It's an impossible commitment to make and it's a reality of the risk associated with severe and extreme fire danger rating conditions."

Labor senator Doug Cameron, who lives in the Blue Mountains, said the emergency warning system had worked well. His family had received two text messages and one voice message on their home phone, and that had helped them decide to evacuate.

The weather bureau's forecast for Thursday included warnings of winds of 45kmh across much of NSW, but the winds gusted to more than 100kmh in some areas.

About 98,000ha has been burned across NSW, and last night more than 1500 firefighters had been deployed.

Tony Abbott - himself a volunteer firefighter - said all Australians were feeling for those affected by the bushfires in NSW.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: MITCHELL NADIN, JARED OWENS, MARK COULTAN, MAL HOLLAND

For more information on the NSW fires please call 1800 679 737, follow @NSWRFS on Twitter or check the NSW Rural Fire Service Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/nswrfs