Roads usually teeming with tourists on their way to spend their Christmas holidays by the beach have been very quiet this year as Australia's ongoing bushfire crisis forces them closed.
The NSW Rural Fire Service was forced to close a large section of the Princes Highway - between Nowra and Lake Conjola - on Monday afternoon as fire ravaged the bush surrounding it.
Fires also threatened roads connected to the Princes Highway leaving many beachside towns connected to the main road cut-off.
The constant road closures on the South Coast, due to the Currowan fire, has left the RFS urging holidaymakers to "revisit their plans" for Christmas.
"South of Sydney is obviously the worst, there are more roads open towards the north than in the west or south," spokeswoman for the NSW Rural Fire Service Angela Burford told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"I'd say people should revisit their plans if they were looking to travel down the coast to Shoalhaven. Fires are burning close to arterial roads and close to the towns where people tend to holiday."
More than 1100 properties have been damaged or destroyed in the ongoing NSW bushfire crisis with fears the tally will soon jump to include another 100 houses.
Damage assessment figures released by the NSW Rural Fire Service on Monday afternoon stated 829 homes have been destroyed by bushfires this season and 333 homes have been damaged.
It is believed a further 100 houses were razed when bushfires tore through NSW under dangerous conditions on Thursday and Saturday last week.
RFS deputy commissioner Rob Rogers said it would be another 24 hours before they had an accurate number of homes destroyed “but I think it is fair to say .. it is around 100”.
Areas hit hard by fire include Lithgow and along the Bells Line of Road in the upper Blue Mountains, and the Wollondilly Shire villages of Buxton and Bargo, which were ravaged for the second time in three days.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Sunday said “there’s not much left” in the small town of Balmoral, southwest of Sydney.
Firefighters worked to strengthen containment lines under generally easing conditions on Monday.
An emergency alert was issued for the Comberton fire south of Nowra on Monday afternoon, although this was later downgraded.
Mr Rogers on Monday said more than three million hectares have been scorched this bushfire season.
“It’s an enormous amount of the landscape and forested areas,” he told reporters in the Blue Mountains.
“We shouldn’t underestimate just how much of the natural environment is being burnt and that’s got serious ecological impacts as well as the fire impact ... I think that will be felt for years to come.”
He said that while Monday was a cool day, the threat had not passed for the Blue Mountains and firefighters would be doing a lot of containment work in coming days.
“The next few days are going to be very important to try and get (back burns) in place and then hopefully it won’t be so much of a risk as we go into the next batch of warm weather, looking like Sunday-Monday into next week,” he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday visited Mudgee after an aerial tour where he witnessed the “absolute incineration of such large tracts of land”.
“Wherever you are, be reassured that the effort and the coordination is extraordinary,” Mr Morrison told reporters.
“The level of detail, whether it’s in the headquarters or whether it’s in the incident response centres like we are here in Mudgee, is extraordinary.” Illford couple John and Nova Cunningham arrived at the Mudgee Evacuation Centre with their three children on Saturday night.
“There was a fireball that came through, it was this huge roar and that’s when it just hit everybody and we had to leave,” Mrs Cunningham said. “Our house is okay we think and we’re hoping to hear an update today if we can return, but the wind has changed the fire’s direction so we’re definitely not in the clear yet.” Earlier on Monday, RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said firefighters would take advantage of more favourable conditions expected to continue until the end of the week.
He said they were “absolutely tired” but doing a remarkable job. “Yes they’re fatigued - physically fatigued, emotionally fatigued - but they know their communities are under threat and they’re going to do all they can,” he told Seven’s Sunrise.
The state’s firefighting ranks were bolstered over the weekend with the arrival of crews from Canada and the United States.
- With AAP
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