Bushfires: state of emergency

The worst bushfires the Australian state of New South Wales has seen in decades are defying all efforts to put them out.

A state of emergency was declared on Sunday.

Fire service chiefs say no mass evacuations have been ordered yet.

(SOUNDBITE)(English) SHANE FITZSIMMONS, NEW SOUTH WALES RURAL FIRE SERVICE COMMISSIONER, SAYING:

"There hasn't been forced evacuations. We are seeing and continuing to see a very responsive, a very measured, a very considered community that's heeding advice and making decisions and, where appropriate, choosing to relocate and follow that advice."

On Monday 58 fires were still burning, more than ten of them uncontained.

One man's died and hundreds of homes have been destroyed since the fires took hold on October 17th.