ARSON Australia bushfires 1500 Firefighters NSW State Of Emergency Arson. Fire crews are working desperately to contain a number of fires in the Blue Mountains, with the region facing its worst fire emergency in decades. Fires burning near Lithgow and Springwood flared on Saturday afternoon despite relatively mild conditions, prompting the Rural Fire Service (RFS) to reissue emergency warnings for both. Those fires were later downgraded to watch-and-act alerts, but authorities say the situation is dynamic and could change unexpectedly. At 1:40am (AEDT), watch-and-act alerts remained in place for the fires near Lithgow, Springwood, and at Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains, as well as the fire in the Southern Highlands. Crews are doing all they they can to quell the blazes with conditions expected to deteriorate significantly over the coming days. Around 1,500 firefighters are working throughout the night across the state, battling fires and backburning to strengthen containment lines. RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons says fire crews face the prospect of "very bad and difficult fire-d anger ratings" against the backdrop of the "extraordinary" fires in the Blue Mountains. "We have a lot of fire and given the indicative forecast for weather deteriorating - and deteriorating potentially quite significantly towards the middle of the week - we have got the likes of Blue Mountains facing one of its biggest fire risks for decades," he said. "We are really concerned about the next few days and particularly towards the middle and end of next week, particularly in relation to the weather forecast." The largest blaze at Lithgow has burnt nearly 30,000 hectares and threatened the areas of Bilpin, Bell, Dargan, Marrangaroo and Hartley Vale. Meanwhile, the fire at Springwood intensified during the afternoon with St Columba's High School, a historic sandstone building, coming under threat. Twenty-four patients were evacuated from the Springwood Hospital as a precaution. No other people are thought to be unaccounted for. Mr Fitzsimmons says some of the fires are so vast they will take weeks to extinguish. He says the fire between Lithgow and Bilpin in the Blue Mountains has a perimeter of about 190km. "Firefighters will be working on these fires for weeks," he said. "They've been doing extensive back burning operations to try to lock in these fires to hard containment lines such as roads or fire trails. "They're also dealing with hot spots in and around the properties and communities, trying to lock in as much of the active edge as they can. "It's all about reducing the risk of these fires to breach containment lines and run under hotter, drier, windier condition over coming days." The Bureau of Meteorology's Dimitri Danchuk says the hot weather will continue until Wednesday with no chance of relief from a cool change. "This spell of very hot temperatures will last at least for the near future, we shouldn't expect rapidly moving cold fronts anymore," he said. "The pattern is becoming more slow moving, effectively meaning we could see more prolonged spells of very warm to hot temperatures." Residents count cost of destructive fires While parts of the state are battling fires, others are already beginning to take stock of the damage they have caused. The unlucky ones have been left with little choice but to start searching the rubble of their homes for valuables.

• published: 20 Oct 2013
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