![[Photo:BBC]](https://www.fijivillage.com/news_images/7466013945dfffb85c9684cf636335.jpg)
The leader of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, says "catastrophic" fire conditions have almost completely razed one Australian community to the ground.
Just before 11pm, there are 98 bush and grass fires burning in NSW, 50 are still to be contained. More favourable conditions today have allowed firefighters to work on assessing the damage from the last couple of days and focus on containment options. #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/up84cgPwCz
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) December 22, 2019
She said there was "not much left" of the town of Balmoral, south-west of Sydney, where about 400 people live.
Firefighters are struggling to contain wildfires burning across several states amid dry and hot conditions.
Since September, Australia's bushfire emergency has killed at least nine people, destroyed hundreds of homes and scorched millions of hectares of land.
[Source:BBC]
