The New South Wales bush fires raged out of control for a 12th day yesterday with the authorities now warning that high winds and soaring temperatures look set to fan the flames for at least three or four more days and possibly a lot longer.
Officials co-ordinating the efforts of 15,000 workers still fighting more than 100 fires in the state said the people of NSW should be prepared for a long fight before the flames can be contained.
The cost of the crisis has been put at well over $80 million, much more than the $54 million in damage caused by the fires of 1994 in Victoria and South Australia which claimed the lives of 76 people.
NSW Premier Bob Carr yesterday said the hostile weather since the fires began on Christmas Eve looks set to worsen. "The current conditions will continue, but on Sunday they will get bad," he said.
He added that the dangerous combination of soaring temperatures close to 40 degrees, strong gusty winds and low humidity would stoke the fires that have already burned more than 800,000 acres of bushland and claimed nearly 200 homes.
And Rural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperberg said both fire crews and NSW residents should be prepared for a long fight.
"This is, as we predicted, a long-term campaign," he said. "Over the next couple of days we'll see a gradual deterioration with a rather bad day being forecast for Sunday."
He conceded he had seen many fires simply rage out of control primarily on the NSW south coast, in the Blue Mountains north-west of Sydney and at the Hawkesbury river region just north of Sydney. At least 250 fire trucks and their crews were fighting the flames in those three regions.
In the Blue Mountains a new wall of flame broke out at Kings Tableland and was burning towards the Great Western Highway, which has this week proved a major containment line.
And in the Blue Mountains National Park further fires had gained a strong hold by late afternoon and were expected to cause major problems today.
There were no reports of property being lost but late last night flames were rapidly closing in on the township of Bendalong on the south coast.
Firefighters said hundreds of homes were under threat.