The bushfire threat crept closer on Monday when a blaze which started on the edge of Butmaroo Creek, just 10km from Bungendore, swept in north and westerly directions and sent thick smoke over the town.
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Police closed the Kings Highway and turned traffic around as the NSW Rural Fire Service diverted crews off the nearby North Black Range and sent tankers down to fight the new fire.
RFS incident controller Darren Marks said an immediate decision was made to attack the new fire with as many resources as they could muster, given its location and the direction of travel.
"We hit it early and very hard," he said.
"Police closed the Kings Highway not just because of the thick smoke but also because of the safety issue for our people and the public.
"At one stage we had 32 fire tankers on the road and three helicopters with water buckets in the air, so it was a very busy section of highway."
He said that at its height, the fire burned fiercely for about 90 minutes and travelled more than a kilometre.
Late on Monday afternoon, the intensive effort had paid off and fire crews had brought the fire under control, allowing the highway to be re-opened to traffic, but with lower speed restrictions imposed because of emergency crews still working in the area.
However, as ACT public schools close on Thursday for the long Christmas-New Year break, the news is not so good for those planning to head to the NSW South Coast with the highway closed again between Braidwood and Nelligen, just west of the Clyde River.
On Sunday a flare-up in the Currowan fire moved quickly uphill towards the road in the Misty Mountain Road and Government Bend area. Although it didn't cross the Kings Highway, it reopened concern around fire-damaged trees falling on the road and late on Monday crews were still on the highway and mopping up.
RFS spokesman Phil Paterson said they were well aware of the importance of opening the highway as soon as possible, saying: "Public safety has to come first."
Across at the North Black Range fire west of Braidwood, while the fire is contained there was some wariness about what the fierce heat of the days ahead may hold.
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The ACT Emergency Services Agency's new Firebird 100 fire-spotting helicopter was called in to use its on-board infra-red technology to pinpoint hotspots for fire crews on the ground to target.
"We don't have much of a window to get in and do this work before it gets very hot and windy this week," Mr Marks said.
"While the North Black Range fire is contained, there are areas of risk and so we are working hard on those while we can."
The Currowan fire, on the NSW South Coast, has now spotted into the steep and spectacular Pigeon House mountain area, where there are few access areas.
Containment lines had been set up to the east and the west and this preparatory work will continue in the next 36 hours ahead of the low humidity and high relative temperatures arriving on Wednesday and Thursday.
"There are some places of Aboriginal cultural and heritage importance in those areas so we have worked with the local indigenous people to protect those areas as best we can, as well as the infrastructure on Pigeon House," Mr Paterson said.
"The coming conditions will make for some challenging days ahead this week."
The former Tianjara artillery range with its unexploded ordnance is still under threat.
