Australian Bushfires Rage Out Of Control As 3,000 Reserve Troops Brought In To Tackle Crisis

New South Wales transport minister Andrew Constance, likened the South Coast fires to “an atomic bomb.”

He said he had been forced to defend his own home from embers, and told ABC Radio Sydney: “I’ve got to be honest with you, this isn’t a bushfire it’s an atomic bomb,” 

New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian said her state is facing “another terrible day” and called on people in areas threatened by the fires to leave while they still could.

Authorities also repeated warnings fires could move “frighteningly quick”, with embers carried by wind having the potential to spark new fires or enlarge existing ones.

Australian navy ships have been lifting hundreds of people from beaches in towns cut off by roads by the fires.

Tens of thousands of people have been urged to flee communities near fires, many of them coastal holiday centres, before hot and windy weather intensified over the weekend. 

In some of the worst-hit areas, such as parts of Victoria, residents have been issued with emergency warnings and told it is now “too late” to evacuate.