BREAKING: The NSW RFS has confirmed that the death toll from bushfires on the South Coast has risen to three and they hold 'grave concerns' for another person who is still missing
"It will be cooler but they're strong and gusty south to southwesterly winds that will lead to a change in the direction the fires are moving," meteorologist Dean Narramore said.
"It'll expand the fire area, so you're going to have new challenges, new problems and new areas impacted. "They're going to cause tricky fire conditions, particularly for those really large fires around Sydney."Mr Narramore said some blazes are so large, firefighters are likely to be battling different weather conditions in the eastern and western perimeters of the fires.A firefighting helicopter tackling a bushfire near Bairnsdale in Victoria's East Gippsland region.However, the southerly wind change is expected to reduce the fire risk, despite packing gusts of up to 80 km/h.
In Victoria, where four people are missing and dozens of homes are expected to have been lost, the Defence Force has been mobilised to evacuate people cut off in remote communities in East Gippsland. Fires ripped through more than 230,000 hectares in the east of the state forcing thousands of residents to shelter on beaches as smoke turned day into night.
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