The RFS said at 5.30am on Wednesday there were 73 fires burning across NSW,of which 37 were yet to be contained.
A fire near Field of Mars Avenue at South Turramurra.Credit:Louise Kennerley
Commissioner Fitzsimmons said a fire in the Royal National Park at Loftus was"clearly suspicious".
The Commissioner said the fire had"multiple ignitions",and crews from the RFS,Fire and Rescue NSW and NSW Parks were on the scene on Tuesday night fighting the blaze.
An earlier fire at Turramurra on Sydney's north shore was also under investigation,police said.
An RFS aircraft was diverted from fires burning to the north to douse the flames threatening homes that bordered bushland in the suburb,leaving homes,cars and driveways coated in a bright phosphate-based fire retardant.
The Minister for Emergency Services,David Elliott,said the total area burned through by bushfires was already three times the amount that was burnt last season."And we haven't even reached summer,"Mr Elliott said.
Fire retardant used on properties on Barwon Avenue during a fire in South Turramurra.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The effort to control the fires involved support from the Australian Defence Force and reinforcements from interstate firefighters,who were housed in military accommodation at Cessnock.
The state had woken to the gritty stench of smoke hanging in still air,but the winds picked up over the morning and by midday,the wind speed over the ranges had picked up to 50km/h. Three bushfire emergencies were in place and residents of the Nowendoc and Mt George areas on the Northern Tablelands were told it was too late to evacuate.
"You’ve got very tight winding roads into a lot of these areas which is why we talked about leaving early as the safest option,"Commissioner Fitzsimmons said."The last thing we want to do is be managing mass evacuations in some pretty difficult to access areas and running the risk of having a bunch of congested roadways and seeing people incinerated in their cars."
Hillville fire reflects on water during the out-of-control fire on Tuesday evening.Credit:Dean Sewell
Countering the fires was a case of whack-a-mole. Fires breached their containment lines at Hillville near Taree,at Carrai Creek west of Kempsey and Llangothlin north of Armidale. The Llangothlin fire was downgraded to watch and act,but several more sprung up in its place. At 1pm there were five emergency warning issued. By 3pm there were 11.
Students were evacuated from eight primary schools and one high school in the North West and Upper Hunter regions.
Taree Boarding Kennels and Cattery owner Meaghan Lucas said she was beginning to feel persecuted by the fires,which had encircled her home since Friday when a blaze devoured 10 acres of the 15-acre property. All day they had been watching the Hillville fire,but it was the Rainbow Flat fire that sneaked up from the back and raced towards the kennels in the afternoon. On Tuesday night she was watching the Hillville fire again,with another eye on the fire at Old Bar. All the cats had been evacuated,but 20 dogs remained on site.
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"I’m not a control freak,but I like to know where things are so I know how to react,"Ms Lucas said."It’s honestly the worst four or five days of my life. I feel like I’m in hell at the moment."
The situation was so volatile that Premier Gladys Berejiklian,addressing Parliament,said she expected more fires to reach emergency levels by the end of question time. Defence Minister Linda Reynolds began to consider the unprecedented step of calling up army reservists to help the Australian Defence Force respond to the fires.
Bushfires licked Sydney at Llandilo and Woodford and as deep into suburbia as Birrong,while grass fires broke out at Bella Vista,Blacktown,Homebush West,Wolli Creek,Warriewood and Vaucluse.
Paramedics were called out to 69 people who reported breathing problems over the course of the day. Four firefighters were treated for injuries including smoke inhalation,heat stress and a broken arm.
Several properties were destroyed at North Rothbury and residents along Wine Country Road were preparing to evacuate before the fire was brought under control.
Four people were charged with breaching the statewide fire ban,including a 27-year-old man who was fined $2200 for using a campfire to boil tea in a western Sydney reserve and a 35-year-old man who burned fence palings in south-western Sydney.