There has been smoke across the sky above Sydney for most of today though by lunch time the temperature had hit its peak of 34 degrees and nor-westerly winds were gusting at up to 105km/h at times, whipping up fires between Heatherbrae, just north of Newcastle to Picton, between Sydney and Mittagong, and west to Springwood in the Blue Mountains.

The Pacific Highway, F5 Freeway, Illawarra Highway, M4 Motorway and Bells Line of Road are closed due to fires jumping the roads and in the case of the Illawarra Highway, a bus crash.

Firestorms (fast moving fires hot enough to cause eucalyptus oil to pass flashpoint and explode) in Springwood have reportedly destroyed dozens of homes and cars though fortunately there are no reports of injuries or deaths.

Police in Bathurst have pulled in an alleged firebug this morning - once found guilty these people should be tied up and flogged as they are amongst the lowest of the low in our society.

The RFS is sweating on a southerly buster to cool things down and direct the fires back on themselves though this may still be a couple of hours away.

Smoke shows on Sydney radar - a pall from Lithgow to Sydney and another from south of Picton to Wollongong. There is no rain at Wollongong at the moment so this radar image can only be the smoke - didn't realise that it shows on weather radar.

Some light ash falling in Wollongong - maybe that is what the radar picks up.

Hi Brad,

We've been inundated with smoke out here in Wauchope. Visibility was incredibly low this morning thanks to smoke (though the nearest fires were quite a ways away), and had me anxiously keeping an eye on the Rural Fire Service websites.

Looking east from the main street of Wauchope, the sky was an incredibly dark browny-black from the smoke. Since we live in a rural high fire-risk area, I've been on edge all day! According to the RFS fire tracker, at least two bush fires have sprung up in the Hastings shire today, which is quite alarming...

For anyone wishing to keep track of the bush fires, keep an eye on the RFS fire tracker.

http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_content.cfm?cat_id=683.

Chris

Interestingly though, the weather has been acting odd. While in Wauchope, I got stranded in the IGA supermarket thanks to a freak down pour and thunder storm, which absolutely bucketed for about 5-10 minutes. The gutters down High Street were flooded!

Yet at our house in Kind Creek, ten minutes away, it's bone dry. Not a spot of rain fell out here today, unlike Wauchope! I've heard of localised weather, but I've never seen weather quite this localised!

Chris

I've been outdoors most of the afternoon and I now smell like a bushfire myself.

Police in Bathurst have pulled in an alleged firebug this morning - once found guilty these people should be tied up and flogged as they are amongst the lowest of the low in our society.

They should be gaoled for a mandatory 25 years. Trouble is, many of them turn out to be minors so they get hit over the wrist with a wet lettuce leaf. Others are certified halfwits who also get let off with a caution.

Then we have the more sinister element: a mate of mine who lives in the Ludenham area told me about the local big-noting RFS hero living in his street who was caught driving out of the street at speed with his firefighting gear on before the alarm had been sounded.

(Edit: Fixed typo. Meant to say RFS not SES.)

I had some ash fall on my ute in North Sydney as I left work though this went away as I approached home, probably because I was 20km closer to the heat source and the ash was still in the air.

GTC: agreed on the 25 years in gaol, though they should get the flogging as a token gesture and in public too. If having the skin on one's back shaved off by the Cat-O-Nine Tails isn't enough to provide a potent deterrent then I don't know what is.

I guess we'll find out over the coming weeks if today's dozen or so major fires were deliberately lit or not. Photos in the first post uploaded a few minutes ago.

Having spent some time working in Saudi Arabia during the 1970's I can fully endorse a public flogging, we don't know how to control crime in the western world.

I've lived in the Blue Mountains all my life and been an RFS volunteer for 35 years. I was in Winmalee yesterday afternoon and have never witnessed that sort of destruction. We had no chance and many houses burned before we could even get to them. Others we could do nothing but watch, we are not equipped to fight fires that are already established in a structure.

I cried when I got home and my heart goes out to those that have lost everything.

I'm leaving in the next few minutes for another 12 shift.

Cheers

Good on you Scraps. You blokes are champions. Take care of yourselves.

Hear Hear.

Those fires made the national newscast here in the USA. Hopefully the firefighters can get them under control.

Which radio to pack? With Wednesday shaping up to be one of the worst bushfire danger days in history, we're packing important items. Only room for one radio. An easy decision really, my very first AWA. The one in my avatar is from my great Aunt and has a long family history. With our three kids still at home along with two grand kids there's no question of them staying here to face it. I'm proud that all my kids are also RFS volunteers although this is way too big for them. Eldest son is in the middle of his HSC, how much stress must he be going through.

I've been swapped to dayshift and face 12 hour shifts for the next three days. We're all knackered and hear talk of interstate crews coming to help, dear Lord I hope so...

The Grose Valley was in the news for the whole time back in 1994. Let's hope it doesn't get that bad this time.

I hear that the air cranes are on their way - lets hope we don't need more than the two machines we already have here.

It's hard to fathom... All these fires burning and people are still being arrested for starting more.

It's hard to fathom... All these fires burning and people are still being arrested for starting more.

That's how these morons are wired. They see a fire on TV and that triggers them into action. Psychologists say they are like pedos -- incurable.

Newspaper report on the weekend said police arson task force is watching 40 known arsonists. What a waste of police resources. The bastards should be growing old in prison.

Scraps: I'd hate to be facing your dire situation. I hope reinforcements get there in time.

Scraps, that brings up an interesting point of what you would take if you could only take one item from your collection. It would be a difficult decision for me, though I'd have to say either my 1979 Rank Arena C-2014 table-top colour television, or my 1970s PYE 12G13 B&W portable. I'm sure I'd figure out a way to save both though!

Unfortunately, we're in a high danger area for bush fires, so I might face the same situation one summer (or in this case, Spring). Hopefully that won't happen though... Do the RFS use swimming pools for water for their fire-fighting helicopters?

On Thursday and Friday, we receiveed some extensive rain, causing some flooding in town! I'll send a photo to Brad later, but let's hope that you fellas down south get some heavy rain to help combat the fires.

Good luck and stay safe,

Chris