New mega-fire merges near Sydney

Two fires have merged in Sydney’s southwest into a new mega-fire.

According to the NSW Rural Fire Service, the Green Wattle Creek blaze and the Ruined Castle fire have merged south of Katoomba.

The two blazes are south of the mammoth Gospers Mountain fire which is currently covering more than 480,000 hectares.

Up to eight properties have been lost in Lithgow as the edge of the huge Gospers Mountain fire moves ever westward, the NSW Blue Mountains town's local federal MP says.

Fire has continued to burn south of the Bells Line of Road on Saturday night with a southerly briefly making fire behaviour erratic.

The Rural Fire Service said reports suggested homes had been damaged or destroyed in the Lithgow area as embers appeared before Nationals MP and Calare member Andrew Gee confirmed the losses to AAP.

"I received reports between four to eight (properties) and some of them were sheds. It is heartbreaking that a young family has lost their home just before Christmas," Mr Gee said at an evacuation centre in Lithgow, referring to a house burned down on Hepburn Street.

"On the positive side, I am relieved a lot more homes were saved than lost."

The fire is thought to have destroyed up to 20 homes in total.

Cooler conditions on Sunday, and for much of next week, are likely to make containment of the mega-blaze partially easier.

Mr Gee said he was "deeply concerned" about reports an elderly man whose Dargan home was consumed by flames remains unaccounted for.

The evacuation centre at Lithgow Workies Club slowly filled with residents fleeing homes on Saturday, with NSW Families and Community Services pledging to assist evacuees seeking shelter.

Resident Amanda Rich said she had safely delivered her two pet dogs to a friend's place on the outskirts of Lithgow before attending the centre.

The 32-year-old mum of four said she was on her own as the bushfire raged on both sides of her street, with her husband at work.

"At least I got everything out in the car before those embers came," she said.

Ms Rich said the RFS warned her to vacate quickly because "two fires are coming from Wallerawang and two coming from the mountains".

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Max Hawken, meanwhile, didn't let his 82 years prevent him installing sprinklers on his Vale of Clwydd roof and pledging to defend his home.

"I have put the sprinklers ready all around the roof," Mr Hawken said as he showed an AAP reporter on the ground the plastic hoses attached to a sprinkler that he will manually turn on if the embers reach his street.

"This fire will be one of the worst we have if this town burns."

Mr Hawken said he had defended his cottage several times over the more than half a century he'd lived in it and was ready to again.

Mr Gee also said a crew of five firefighters which were overrun by flames and trapped in Clarence bush had been found and transported to safety.

Man missing as firies struggle

Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said an elderly Dargan man who refused to leave, choosing to stay and defend his residence east of Lithgow, remained unaccounted for on Saturday evening. His property was later seen in flames.

However, he was located safe on Sunday morning, NSW RFS said.

At least two more properties were razed near Batemans Bay on the south coast, and others at Balmoral southwest of Sydney.

NSW Ambulance chief executive Dominic Morgan said a number of firefighters suffered heat exhaustion on Saturday while battling the 112 fires, which were having a "big impact" on demand for emergency services.

Mr Fitzsimmons added one firefighter at Lithgow had been treated for smoke inhalation and another at Gospers Mountain was struck by a car.

With AAP

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