Thousands urged to flee NSW South Coast ahead of horror fire weekend

The ongoing bushfire crisis has seen, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian declare a seven-day state of emergency across parts of the state starting from 9am tomorrow (Friday).

It will mean forced evacuations and road closures for people in bushfire zones ahead of Saturday's forecast "horrible" fire conditions.

NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said Saturday was likely to bring conditions more dangerous than New Year's Eve, when bushfires left seven dead and thousands in peril.

Commissioner Fitzsimmons advised "there'll be real challenges and very real risks associated with what's being forecast and predicted for fire spread under the sorts of weather conditions we're expecting as we head into Saturday.

"The conditions on Saturday are likely to be worse than New Year's Eve and a lot of those areas in the south-east quadrant of the state have the potential to be impacted — and impacted very heavily."

A 'tourist leave zone' has been declared for a 14,000 kilometre² area between Nowra and the edge of Victoria's northern border.

The NSW RFS initially declared a leave zone between Batemans Bay down to the border, but extended that zone to the area between Nowra and Ulladulla late on Thursday.

As reported by the ABC, the area has been described by NSW Minister for Transport, Andrew Constance as the "largest mass relocation of people out of the region that we've ever seen."

RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said it was a race against the clock to get tourists out before Saturday, adding "we have so many fires still burning down there ... and quite close to communities as well.

"We won't get containment on those fires before Saturday."

Strong winds, scorching temperatures and low humidity are forecast for Saturday with temperatures set to hit 41 degrees Celsius on the South Coast.

The Princes Highway is closed between Milton and Tomerong, and between Batemans Bay and Moruya.

The Kings Highway, which connects Batemans Bay to Canberra, remains closed.

However, George Bass Drive, which runs along the coast, is open south of the Bay, with heavy traffic conditions in place.

NSW Police and emergency services have been escorting people out of the Bendalong, Manyana and Cunjurong areas - north of Ulladulla - about 20 cars at a time.

Those villages were cut off after the Currowan fire decimated large swathes of Conjola Park.

However, media reports show major traffic jam with many hundreds of cars, caravans and trucks backed up on roads exiting the affected areas.

Long queues of cars have formed at petrol stations while lengthy queues of people have formed outside supermarkets, hoping to stock up on food and other necessities.

Eight people are known to have died since Wednesday in a horror week for bushfires across the country, including a father-son duo and a volunteer firefighter.

Any changes to traffic conditions will be updated on the NSW Live Traffic website.

Lower image: The NSW RFS declared a ‘tourist leave zone’ between Batemans Bay and the northern edge of the Victorian border. (Supplied: NSW Rural Fire Service).