While most Australians unwrap their presents and spend time with their families, thousands of volunteers and Army soldiers are battling devastating bushfires.
Firefighters across the Adelaide Hills are taking advantage of cooler Christmas Day weather to get a massive blaze under control.
Slightly milder conditions on Wednesday and on Boxing Day will give the Country Fire Service a chance to tame a 25,000-hectare blaze ahead of the looming deterioration in conditions.
A return to very hot weather with the mercury topping 40C has been forecast for the weekend, together with rising winds, that will have authorities on edge.
Heroes: Soldiers of the 49th Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment are at work in the Lismore area providing flight-line and logistical support to the RFS. They posted this image on Christmas Day
This image shows fighters volunteering over Christmas in Nowra, New South Wales. It was posted by the Rural Fire Service on Christmas Day
CFS Chief Officer Mark Jones said as the work continued to bring the fire under control, he was inspired by the efforts of his volunteers.
‘You selflessly give your time, time away from your family, and you endure financial losses to put yourself in harm’s way to protect the community,’ he said.
Mr Jones said about 200 firefighters would remain on the ground in the Hills on Wednesday and all those at home would be ready to spring into action.
‘Fires don’t discriminate whether it’s Christmas Day or not and our firefighters don’t discriminate either,’ he said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, front, and SA Premier Steven Marshall, left, stand on burnt ground of Jacaranda Drive in Woodside on Christmas Eve
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison toured areas hard hit by the fire, visiting the Lobethal emergency relief centre, a CFS brigade at Woodside and a local winery, which lost its 10-hectare vineyard.
He said in almost every case, the people devastated by the fire had worked so incredibly hard to build up what was there.
‘They’re very determined people and my encouragement to them today is to access the help that is available,’ he said.
‘No one is invincible. No one can carry all of this on their own.’
Mr Morrison also paid tribute the firefighters on duty across the Hills and those battling other fires around SA and across the country.
‘Today may be Christmas Eve but for so many firefighters, it’s going to be another day out there protecting their communities,’ he said.
Destruction: A koala with a CFS volunteer who was fighting the bushfire at a Lobethal vineyard
‘I thank them for their service and thank all those supporting them to keep them out there. And I thank their families.’
A watch and act warning remains in place for the Adelaide Hills fire, which has destroyed 84 homes and hundreds of other buildings as well as claiming one life.
And it’s not only the firefighters that are dealing with bushfires over Christmas.
Wildlife carers in Australia are ready to work around the clock, preparing for more admissions particularly for baby animals stressed by hot weather, bushfires and drought.
At Port Macquarie’s Koala Hospital, carers will be looking after 72 koalas on Christmas Day that were brought in after bushfires raised up to three quarters of their habitat, Clinical Director Cheyne Flanagan told Reuters.
‘We have teams on roster for capture if any are in trouble and they are available 24 hours a day,’ she said.
A Go Fund Me page for the hospital that was set up in October to provide koalas in bushfire hit areas with drinking stations has been popular with Christmas shoppers, raising A$2.1 million from an initial target of A$25,000.
A property is lost as The Gospers Mountain Fire impacts, at Bilpin on Saturday, December 21
With the extra funds it will provide more drinking stations, a water carrying vehicle to replenish the drinking stations, and establish a wild koala breeding program.
‘The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital has been overwhelmed by the kindness, good wishes and support from the Australian and international community for the wildlife icon, the koala,’ it said in a statement.
Gerry Ross, a manager at Healesville Sanctuary, in the southern Victoria state, said staff would be receiving injured wildlife at their hospital on Christmas day.
‘We do work like an emergency hospital. We do notice a change when it´s really hot. We do have animals come in that are heat affected, or with animals coming in with burned feet from hot roads,’ she said.
Australian native animals must first be seen by a veterinarian before they can be sent to a network of 2,600 carers attached to 28 branches of New South Wales state wildlife rescue group WIRES, said spokesman John Grant.
‘Anecdotally I think we have never seen it as bad as this, which is the drought, and then the bushfires on top of that,’ he said.
A fire ravages bushland at the side of the road near Mt Wilson in the Blue Mountains
‘A lot of the birds can escape, and some of the gliders can escape. But the new areas they go to are also drought-stricken. We just need the rain so badly.’
Firefighters across New South Wales are set for a moderate Christmas, with cooler conditions to keep fire danger to a minimum.
Rain is forecast for coastal NSW north of Newcastle on Wednesday, while Sydney will have a 50 per cent chance of rain and a maximum of 26C. Easterly winds will also shift a lingering smoke haze away from the city.
Most of coastal NSW is under ‘low-moderate’ fire risk, while only one region – the northwestern region – is deemed at ‘very high’ risk.
A dead koala lies on the ground in Fernvale, Queensland, last week after a bushfire
There are no total fire bans in place. The NSW government’s state of emergency, granting special powers to Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, will expire on Wednesday night.
Almost 75 bush and grass fires were nevertheless burning on Tuesday night, including the Gospers Mountain mega-blaze northwest of Sydney, the Green Wattle Creek fire southwest of the city and the south coast’s Currowan fire. Some 28 fires were yet to be contained.
More than 2,000 firefighters will spend this week making crucial preparations before conditions deteriorate again across NSW, likely this weekend. Penrith, west of Sydney, will reach 37C on Saturday and 39C on Sunday.
However, the RFS isn’t expecting a repeat of the danger levels seen a few days ago, Mr Fitzsimmons told reporters on Tuesday.
‘We’re really trying to consolidate as much as we can, secure protection as best we can ahead of what’s expected to be hotter, drier and, this time, a bit more northerly in the winds,’ Mr Fitzsimmons said.