Australia bushfires live: NSW and Victoria survey damage from overnight fires – latest updates | Australia news

Here is a summary of what the NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons and the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had to say about the impact of those conditions on Friday and what is expected in the days ahead:

• There have been two reports of injuries on Friday. Members of a volunteer firefighting crew from the Central Coast working in the Shannon’s Flat area were overrun by fire. There were some initial reports of burns and shortness of breath for three crew members. They were treated by ambulance and released.

• In the south of the state, a man has suffered serious burns defending his property. He was treated on scene and flown out of the area on a water bombing helicopter and will have surgery today at Concord Hospital.

• 147 fires are still burning in NSW and one new fire has started today near Port Stephens.

• Fitzsimmons says initial reports suggest no homes were lost overnight but there has been damage to other structures such as sheds.

• Crews want to use forecast milder conditions over the next to week to contain as much as they can before a return to warmer weather.

The challenge is the enormous geographic spread of the fires. Fitzsimmons said advice from the Bureau of Meteorology was that while there was currently some rainfall through the state, much of it was showers that are “evaporating before they hit the ground”.

“Hopefully, we will not see more thunderstorms and more dry thunderstorms and lightning strikes causing new fires,” he says.

More from that press conference:

The NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons says early reports today suggest no homes were destroyed overnight “but we have got reports of some outbuildings and some sheds that were damaged or consumed by the fire”.

“So, as the premier said, no lives lost which is the priority,” he says.

He adds that they are expecting “a run of better weather over the next week”:

“It would appear that we have got at least a week, it will probably be the best seven days we have had without a rise of very dangerous fire ratings coming towards us over the next seven days.”

“So, some reprieve. An opportunity for firefighters and affected communities to consolidate and allow us to try and get the upper hand on the fires.”

The NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is speaking.

She says a person has been injured overnight while defending their property and was taken to Concord Hospital.

She says while “we never want to be complacent and we shouldn’t be under the current conditions” they are relieved that a reprieve in weather conditions is expected over the next week.

The NSW RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons confirms that earlier figure that there are still 147 fires burning across the state.

But he adds that a new fire has started this morning in the Port Stephens region, to the east of Anna Bay.

“That’s one that just popped up and has been elevated to watch and act just due to its proximity to people’s homes,” he says.

We are expecting an update within the next hour from the NSW RFS and the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

In the meantime, the RFS has published its latest data on properties damaged and destroyed this season, up until January 10. It says these figures will increase.

Good morning and welcome to today’s coverage of the ongoing bushfire crisis.

Firefighters in NSW and Victoria faced a difficult night after a southerly change brought gusty winds through both states.

In NSW, more than 3,500 firefighters were deployed and wind gusts of up to 90km/h across some firegrounds created dangerous conditions. We will hear more about the impact of this later today.

Three fires – the Dunns Road, the Green Valley Talmalmo, and the East Ournie Creek fire – have merged to create a new “megablaze” that is burning across the NSW and Victorian borders.

There is some better news, however, with, conditions having eased on Saturday morning and cooler conditions expected today.

Most of NSW has a fire danger rating of high today. The southern slopes region has very high fire danger today.

In NSW, no fires are currently at emergency warning level and one fire is at watch and act level.

The RFS said that, at 6am, there were still 147 bush and grass fires burning across NSW, 65 of which are yet to be contained.

In Victoria, a fire near Wodonga forced evacuations overnight.

There is one emergency warning in place in Victoria near Mt Hotham.