Scott Morrison at Rural Fire Service headquarters after holiday in Hawaii

Scott Morrison has been pictured for the first time since cutting his family holiday to Hawaii short and jetting back to Australia.

The Prime Minister’s voice broke as he spoke about brave volunteer firefighters who have spent weeks battling blazes without pay.  

‘No one wants to be out there fighting these fires. No one wants these fires to be happening at this time,’ he said on Sunday morning at the Rural Fire Service headquarters.

‘But when those fires do occur, as they have for a very long time in this country, then those who have – and there’s over 200,000 of them in Australia – who have signed up and put their hand up to be there to defend their communities, then they go out an they do this work.

‘They do it on behalf of all of us. And they’re getting tired. And they’re getting fatigued because this has been going a very long time.’  

Mr Morrison admitted he had caused ‘great anxiety’ by leaving Australia for his family holiday during one of the worst bushfire crises’ in history.

‘I know that that has caused some great anxiety in Australia. Jenny and I acknowledge that,’ he said.

‘If you had your time over again and you had the benefit of hindsight, then would have made different decisions. 

‘I’m sure Australians are fair minded and understand that when you make a promise to your kids, you try to keep it – but as prime minister, you have other responsibilities.

‘I accept that. I accept the criticism.’  

Mr Morrison met with fire chiefs at the NSW Rural Fire Service control room in Sydney 

With the worst of a distorting southerly blast over, NSW authorities say they must now count the cost of a horror day on the state’s fire grounds.

An elderly man whose home was consumed by flames remains missing and dozens of properties have been damaged or destroyed by bushfires which raged during heatwave NSW conditions on Saturday.

Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons described the day as ‘awful’ for firefighters, with up to 20 homes lost to the immense Gospers Mountain fire northwest of Sydney alone.

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

Southerly winds moving upstate on Saturday evening fanned flames in new directions and caused erratic fire behaviour, before creating cooler conditions for the 3000 firefighting and emergency personnel in the field.

A fire-generated thunderstorm also formed over fires in the Shoalhaven.

With forecasts predicting close to a week of advantageous conditions across NSW, Mr Fitzsimmons said his crews would ‘make hay’.

Tougher conditions would likely return later in the week or next weekend.

Two total fire bans will nevertheless be in place on Sunday in the Northern Slopes and North Western regions, under ‘very high’ fire danger.

Mr Morrison thanked firefighters from Canada and USA before addressing the media

‘Our big focus is on trying to consolidate and establish containment lines across as many fire grounds as we can. We have significant fire spread south of the Bells Line of Road and through the valley system such as the Grose Valley in the Blue Mountains,’ Mr Fitzsimmons told reporters.

‘So we will be looking at what are the options, what are the fall-back lines and at what point do we start implementing very significant strategies to secure protection for an impending threat to the Blue Mountains, particularly the communities along the Great Western Highway.’

Mr 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.

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.