Australia fire crews face extreme weather in NSW
More than 3,000 firefighters in Australia are battling devastating bushfires raging across New South Wales as weather conditions worsen.
"This will be as bad as it gets," Rural Fire Service chief Shane Fitzsimmons said, adding there was "real potential for more loss of homes and life".
High temperatures, low humidity and strong winds of up to 100km/h (60mph) are forecast for Wednesday.
In total, 59 fires are burning across the state, 19 of which are uncontained.
Hundreds more firefighters have been deployed to the Blue Mountains, to the west of Sydney, to work alongside the 1,000 already there, making it one of the largest firefighting contingents ever assembled in the state's history.
Residents have been urged to leave affected areas. Hundreds of nursing home residents were evacuated late on Tuesday and all schools in the area are closed.
"We are all in this together and we are going to get through this day. If you haven't prepared yourself, for those in the Blue Mountains, now is the time to leave," NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said at a news conference on Wednesday morning.
Hundreds of extra firefighters are being deployed in NSW
The fires have gutted cars and destroyed more than 200 properties
"We hope, of course, today's conditions and potential events do not occur. We've planned for the worst but we continue to hope for the best."
Up to 5mm (0.2in) of rain fell across fire grounds on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.
"Whilst that is some welcome relief in terms of moderating the current fire behaviour, it has compromised considerably the ability to continue with the back-burning operations that were planned throughout the evening," Mr Fitzsimmons said.
Back-burning is controlled burning of key areas aimed at depriving a fire of fuel and prevent it travelling in a certain direction.
Suspected arsonists
In the Blue Mountains, there are four "watch-and-act" alerts in place for the State Mine fire near Lithgow, the Mount Victoria fire, the Hall Road fire near Wollondilly and the Linksview Road fire near Springwood, according to the NSW Rural Fire Service.
On Tuesday fire crews deliberately joined two large fires - State Mine and Mount Victoria - in order to prevent them linking up with a third to create a massive blaze.
"This will be as bad as it gets," Rural Fire Service chief Shane Fitzsimmons said, adding there was "real potential for more loss of homes and life".
High temperatures, low humidity and strong winds of up to 100km/h (60mph) are forecast for Wednesday.
In total, 59 fires are burning across the state, 19 of which are uncontained.
Hundreds more firefighters have been deployed to the Blue Mountains, to the west of Sydney, to work alongside the 1,000 already there, making it one of the largest firefighting contingents ever assembled in the state's history.
Residents have been urged to leave affected areas. Hundreds of nursing home residents were evacuated late on Tuesday and all schools in the area are closed.
"We are all in this together and we are going to get through this day. If you haven't prepared yourself, for those in the Blue Mountains, now is the time to leave," NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said at a news conference on Wednesday morning.
Hundreds of extra firefighters are being deployed in NSW
The fires have gutted cars and destroyed more than 200 properties
"We hope, of course, today's conditions and potential events do not occur. We've planned for the worst but we continue to hope for the best."
Up to 5mm (0.2in) of rain fell across fire grounds on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.
"Whilst that is some welcome relief in terms of moderating the current fire behaviour, it has compromised considerably the ability to continue with the back-burning operations that were planned throughout the evening," Mr Fitzsimmons said.
Back-burning is controlled burning of key areas aimed at depriving a fire of fuel and prevent it travelling in a certain direction.
Suspected arsonists
In the Blue Mountains, there are four "watch-and-act" alerts in place for the State Mine fire near Lithgow, the Mount Victoria fire, the Hall Road fire near Wollondilly and the Linksview Road fire near Springwood, according to the NSW Rural Fire Service.
On Tuesday fire crews deliberately joined two large fires - State Mine and Mount Victoria - in order to prevent them linking up with a third to create a massive blaze.
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