Australia orders force evacuation of residents, tourists ahead of horrible fire conditions

Australian authorities on Thursday declared a state of emergency and forced evacuation of residents, tourists and closure of ros in bushfire zones in states of New South Wales and Victoria ahe of Saturday's forecast of "horrible" fire conditions due to intensified heat wave.

Catastrophic blazes ripped through country's south-east on New Year's eve, killing at least eight people and stranding holidaymakers.

New South Wales government on Thursday declared state of emergency for a week starting Friday which would mean forced evacuations and ro closures for people in bushfire zones ahe of Saturday's forecast "horrible" fire conditions.

Authorities have urged people to leave impacted areas if y can as Rural Fire Service department is expecting tough conditions over weekend.

"So we're going to have a very long, difficult day of hot, dry winds, dominating out of rth, rth-west before a sourly change emits. It is going to be a very dangerous day. It's going to be a very difficult day,'' Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

As of Thursday, NSW was struggling with 113 fires burning across state with over four million hectares burnt.

NSW Premier Glys Berejiklian thanked police for ir efforts to ensure people's safety.

"I want to thank in particular police, fire rescue personnel who have me sure that where people can have access to main ros, that y can let m through even monitoring m closely, with only letting a few cars through at a time," he said.

"We kw temperatures will be in mid-40s in parts of state. We also kw that re are a lot of tourists on move and allowing us to declare state of emergency from tomorrow morning will allow us to ensure that we can provide safe access to ros when we need to," he said.

"We can also provide safe access to ros when we need to, we can also provide safe access to and from destinations as we have been encouraging people to move back home, to travel safely ahe of what will been very difficult circumstances on Saturday," Berejiklian ded.

Berejiklian urged people to exercise caution.

''We encour people to exercise caution. We do appreciate that for some, it is difficult to access supplies but it's much easier than what it was yesterday and day before," he said.

As catastrophic blaze intensified, Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday said Australia's existing emissions reduction policies will do eugh to protect environment and seek to reduce bushfire risks.

Morrison said National Security Committee of Cabinet would meet on Monday to consider bringing in more Defence Force ships and helicopters "as well as longer-term response and some issues we have identified to consider amongst premiers after fires".

"Our emissions reductions policies will both protect our environment and seek to reduce risk and hazard we are seeing today. At same time, it will seek to make sure viability of people's jobs and livelihoods," he said during a press conference.

In state of Victoria, authorities on Thursday urged people in East Gippsland region to leave bushfire zones, especially in state's rth-east and large areas of High Country, with conditions expected to worsen on coming weekend.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed Navy vessels will also commence evacuations efforts in region of Mallacoota on Friday early morning.

One man was confirmed de and re are ''grave concerns" regarding 17 people who are still missing in Victoria while in NSW, seven people were confirmed de.

Victoria's Deputy Emergency Commissioner Deb Abbott said people living in alpine areas of state as well as East Gippsland and Upper Murray region h a 24-hour window of opportunity to leave, or risk being cut off by smoke and flames.

"We want m to leave w," she said.

"We don't want those people to become isolated like some of communities down at East Gippsland, so again I ask; leave w,” she said.

"Leave zones” are also in place for NSW south coast, from wra in rth to Victorian border.

Rural Fire Service has w issued tourist "leave zone" declarations for four areas: Swy Monaro, Shoalhaven, Batlow/Wodalga and south coast.

''Fire dangers on Saturday will reach severe to extreme, yet again, across fire sites and communities that have alrey seen wide-scale devastation," Bureau of Meteorology's Jonathan How said.