Firefighters battle on regardless of personal tragedies
5:30 AM Saturday Oct 19, 2013

Thousands of firefighters, some drafted in from other states, will continue attacking massive fronts in New South Wales in a battle that is likely to last for weeks.
With one man confirmed dead, seven people in hospital, as many as 200 homes lost and tens of thousands of hectares already razed in the state's worst fire emergency in a decade, even lower temperatures and milder winds gave little reprieve yesterday.
Temperatures are expected to climb again tomorrow, with almost 100 fires still burning - dozens still uncontained - continuing a nightmare that many expect will worsen in the coming summer.
Record temperatures have turned most of the eastern states into tinderboxes that have already erupted into many hundreds of fires through South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Queensland in a fire season that is only weeks old.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/australia/news/article.cfm?l_id=15&objectid=11142586

Firefighters race to gain upper hand before conditions worsen as residents return to devastation, despair and grief.

FIREFIGHTERS are racing to get the upper hand on bushfires in the NSW Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Southern Highlands as calmer, cooler weather provides a window of opportunity.
But the danger is far from over, Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers says.
Mr Rogers described today's conditions as a "pause" but said worsening conditions lay ahead with higher temperatures and increasing winds forecast by Sunday.
As of 9am this morning, 83 fires were burning across the state including 19 uncontained blazes.
"We have more than 500km of fire perimeter at the moment ... we're by no means out of the woods," Mr Rogers told ABC radio. "It's just calmed down a little bit and obviously we're bracing ourselves for these worsening conditions."
West of the Blue Mountains the RFS is concerned about a fire in Lithgow which is burning over 28,000 hectares and could tear through the mountains if the wind changes direction.
More plus photos from the Daily Telegraph Australia.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/firefighters-race-to-gain-upper-hand-before-conditions-worsen-as-residents-return-to-devastation-despair-and-grief/story-fni0cx12-1226742811503

Update:

- Firefighters are battling 60 fires, 18 of which are uncontained.
- All public, Catholic and Independent schools are closed in the Blue Mountains, along with a number of schools in Hawkesbury and the Southern Highlands. You can read the full list of closures here.
- Anyone without a reason to be in the Blue Mountains on Wednesday has been urged to leave before lunch.
- Conditions to be dry, with humidity dropping to 15 per cent, temperatures rising into the mid-30s and wind gusts accelerating to 100km/h.
- Boy, aged 14, charged with deliberately lighting a large fire near Newcastle.
- 11-year-old boy appears in court and is placed under house arrest on same charge.
( 14 and 11, where are these kids heads )

Live coverage is at news.com.au

http://www.news.com.au/national/live-coverage-of-the-new-south-wales-bushfires/story-fncynjr2-1226744347084

1:43pm
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has accused a UN official who linked the New South Wales fires to climate change of "talking through her hat" on radio station 3AW.

and here is the link to this here:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/clear-link-between-climate-change-and-bushfires-un-adviser-warns-tony-abbott-20131022-2vxs5.html