Residents beached as fires rage

Around 7,000 residents and holidaymakers were forced to evacuate their homes as bushfires ripped through their seaside communities south of Sydney.

Some 20 homes were destroyed, together with a school and factories as flames leapt 20 feet above treetops in the holiday hamlet of Sussex Inlet.

The town's 1,500 residents and tourists from a caravan park were moved by boat to a beach where they spent last night after roads were cut off.

Dozens of parked cars burst into flames, homes, garden sheds and garages were engulfed.

The homes lost in Sussex Inlet were the first in four days and bring the total across the state to 160.

Firefighters from all states and territories in Australia have now joined forces to battle more than 100 fires around the state.

In the lower Blue Mountains to Sydney's west, hundreds of homes were under threat today as a mile-long firefront arrived in the area. Dozens of firefighters stood in the back gardens of people's homes in a last-ditch effort to beat back the flames.

John Winter, spokesman for the NSW Rural Fire Service, said: "The winds are still gusting dangerously, with the fire fronts switching rapidly."

There is no prospect of rain in the area before Monday.

WORLD NEWS ROUND-UP