Police in Australia have now arrested 21 people, some as young as nine, on suspicion of arson as bushfires in and around Sydney wreaked further damage today.
More than 160 homes have been razed by the fires which took hold on Christmas Day driven by hot, dry weather and high winds, conditions that helped fuel the deadly 1983 fires that swept through Victoria and South Australia states, killing 76 people.
Firefighters, many of them volunteers, have battled to control the latest blazes. But gusting winds have meant no respite in efforts to stop the more than 100 fires burning on fronts totalling 2,000 km across New South Wales.
Many homes remained under threat in Sydney's leafy northern suburbs for a second day today. On a third major fire front in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, some residents were evacuated by helicopter as the flames approached.
"It's hard to think of a bigger threat", New South Wales Premier Bob Carr told local television. "It's very much like war."
Police said that of the 21 people arrested on suspicion of lighting fires deliberately, 14 were juveniles.
Dozens of firefighters have been treated for smoke inhalation and a 51-year-old woman suffered serious head and spinal injuries after she fell from her roof while defending her home.
There have been no deaths reported as a direct result of the fires.