Four more people have been confirmed dead and hundreds of homes have reportedly been destroyed as out-of-control bushfires savage NSW and Victoria.

January 1, 2020

Four more people have died, others are still missing and hundreds of homes are likely destroyed as fire crews continue to battle dozens of out-of-control bushfires in Australia’s southeast.

The worst of the blazes are in Victoria’s east and on the NSW south coast, where thousands of people in isolated communities are ringed by the deadly fires.

“We do have a dynamic and a dangerous fire situation across the state,” Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp told reporters on Wednesday.

More than 45 fires continue to burn in Victoria as helicopters flew firefighters to the isolated border town of Mallacoota, which was flattened by fire on Tuesday as 4000 people sheltered on a beach.

A southerly wind change brought cooler temperatures for the first day of the new year but also lightning-packing thunderstorms, that have sparked dozens of the new fires.

A man was found dead in his Buchan home, his niece posted on the  East Gippsland fire season 2019-2020 Facebook page on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, state authorities said four people were missing and dozens of homes have been destroyed, along with livestock, fences and pastures, after three large fires became one in East Gippsland and chewed through about 500,000 hectares of land.

Another large blaze at Corryong, on the NSW border, is also at risk of spreading and merging with a fire in NSW, where more than 100 fires continue to burn across the state.

Following news on Tuesday that a father and son died in Cobargo, the NSW fire toll increased on Wednesday by three when confirmed deaths included a man being killed in Yatte Yattah near Lake Conjola and body being found in a vehicle at Sussex Inlet.

Another man is missing, feared dead, north of Cobargo after staying at his property to fight the fires.

Hundreds of properties, including homes, schools and businesses, have been reportedly destroyed in the region, where fire crews continue to battle blazes threatening communities.

“There is real potential for fires to continue to flare up and spread, given how dry the landscape is, how dry the vegetation is, and how easily it’s influenced by winds,” Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

Several communities remain isolated, with fears some people may be burned and in need of urgent medical treatment.

“We haven’t been able to get access via roads or via aircraft. It’s been locked in or too dangerous and we simply can’t access, nor can the people in these areas get out,” Mr Fitzsimmons said.

The areas has been hampered by poor communications after fires felled mobile phone towers and power lines.

Federal Opposition leader Anthony Albanese rebuked Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his response to the bushfire crisis, saying Australians want better leadership.

“They want an end to complacency. This is not business as usual,” he told reporters in Brisbane.

Mr Albanese said climate change had influenced the scale of the fires as he called on the government to take more action on the bushfires.

“People expect actually a bit of fair dinkum truth about what is going on because they can see it, they can smell it and we are seeing the impact of complacency,” he said.