Hundreds of thousands of people face a growing bushfire calamity, with the entire Blue Mountains area as well as Penrith and Richmond in danger of burning over the next few days.

Premier Barry O’Farrell on Sunday took the extraordinary step of declaring a state of emergency across NSW for the next 30 days, which will give special powers to all emergency services to deal with what could be a catastrophe.

Mass forced evacuations affecting tens of thousands of people are possible as hotter and drier than expected conditions combine with huge fire fronts already burning.

”This is not out of the realms of possibility,” NSW Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said. ”We are expecting the potential for the series of these fires to come together, to extend right down Bells Line of Road.

”They have the very real potential to go right out to the eastern end of the Hawkesbury, right down into the north-west area of Sydney including Richmond.

Residents come to terms with the loss of their home at Winmalee. Photo: Wolter Peeters

”That’s what we are talking about, the run from Bilpin right through to Richmond.

”We are also talking about the fires coming down the northern areas of the Great Western Highway, everywhere from Blackheath to Katoomba, Leura and all the townships all the way along to places like Springwood and Winmalee…

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