Firefighters on the South Coast faced tough conditions on Monday as crews fought to stop the Currowan fire from jumping the Shoalhaven River.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Crews worked to consolidate the northern and north-eastern parts of the fire near the Shoalhaven River but there was "every likelihood" the fire could jump the water, NSW Rural Fire Service district officer Brad Collins said.
"If it does cross the river we'll throw every single resource at it to stop the fire spread," he said.
But Mr Collins said poor visibility was an issue and crews would not be put in harm's way. On Sunday, poor visibility prevented "aggressive" aerial operations.
If the fire jumped the river it could, in the "worst case scenario", impact on the Kangaroo Valley, but it would not reach the village on Tuesday. Instead it would take a couple of weeks, Mr Collins said.
On Tuesday morning the Currowan fire was burning at advice level and had burnt more than 220,000 hectares. The RFS made the decision to split the fire into three, with the blaze burning on the southern side of the Kings Highway, west of Nelligen, now called the Clyde Mountain fire.
The Clyde Mountain fire was upgraded to emergency on Tuesday morning. It falls under the Eurobodalla district and there are fears the Clyde Mountain fire could spread further south. It had burnt 30,000 hectares and was out of control.
The Charleys Forest fire, which falls under Queanbeyan-Palerang, has grown on the western flank. That fire was at watch and act as of 6.30am Tuesday.
READ MORE:
The Badja Forest Road fire, burning south of the ACT in the Snowy Valley local government area, was upgraded to emergency on Tuesday morning.
Those in areas of Yowrie, Wandella, Tinpot, Murrabrine were told it was too late to leave.
Those in the area of Cobargo or Coolagolite were advised to leave immediately towards Bermagui.
Other nearby resident were advised to activate their bushfire survival plans and if their plan was to leave, do so early in the day.
Footage posted to social media by the NSW Rural Fire Service showed the fire burning in difficult terrain.
West of Canberra, the Dunns Road fire, near Tumut was upgraded to emergency on Tuesday morning.
On Monday evening there were 100 fires burning across NSW, three of which were at emergency level and five at watch and act. More than 900 homes have been destroyed in NSW since the start of the bushfire season.