Update: Monday, 10:55am
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The fire is burning near Mount Kingiman, to the west of Ulladulla, is now contained. The fire has burnt 2,240 hectares and is contained.
Overnight crews continued to strengthen containment lines, ahead of strong winds again today.
Firefighters will remain on the ground today and may undertake backburning if conditions allow.
A number of local road closures remain in place throughout the fire affected area.
Information will be updated by 5pm today, unless the situation changes.
Update: Saturday, 3pm.
The fire, burning in the area of Woodstock, west of Burrill Lake, has burnt through 2195 hectares.
Rural Fire Service has downgraded the Kingiman bushfire to watch and act status after firefighters began to gain the upper hand over the past hour.
Shoalhaven RFS district officer Bradley Collins said there had been spot fires outside of containment lines.
“We’ve got resources on the ground, in terms of machinery trying to create some containment lines around those spots. We’ve got firefighting crews on the ground as well as aircraft attacking those couple of areas,” Mr Collins said.
An information point has been set-up at Ulladulla Civic Centre. Mr Collins reminded residents that it was not an evacuation centre.
“Residents can either choose to go north from the Kings Point, Burrill Lake or Dolphin Pt areas if they want to get information there.”
Out-of-area Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue NSW crews will be arriving within the next 45 minutes to help contain the bushfire, Mr Collins said.
“We’re hitting it with everything we can.”
Update: 1.40pm.
An emergency warning is in place after the Rural Fire Service upgraded the status of the Kingiman fire.
RFS recommends you put your bush fire survival plan into action now and people should leave for Ulladulla now, if they plan too.
Update: 1.26pm.
The Mount Kingiman bush fire was upgraded to watch and act status by the Rural Fire Service about 12.56pm on Saturday.
The fire is burning in the Woodstock area, west of Burrill Lake.
Strong winds have impacted the fire ground and smoke and embers may impact the areas of Kings Point, Burrill Lake and Dolphin Point.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) weather data as of 1.20pm had wind gusts of 52 km/h in Ulladulla and an average speed of 35km/h in a north-west direction.
RFS recommends people should leave for Ulladulla now, if they had planned too.
Conditions were expected to deteriorate later in the day when west/north-westerly winds arrived.
A strong wind warning is in place for the the Illawarra and Batemans coast.
LIVE UPDATES FROM ACROSS THE SOUTH COAST
Update: 10am.
Good progress has been made overnight on containing the fringes of Kingiman fire, west of Ulladulla.
Shoalhaven RFS district officer Bradley Collins said crews continued to backburn around some of the southern parts of the fire on Friday.
“We made good progress with those burns overnight and throughout the day we’re just going to continue,” Mr Collins said.
“Obviously our focus is to get all the edges and everything blacked out and contained. We’ll continue to work on that today and hit as hard as we possibly can.”
Mr Collins said crews had prepared for strong winds, expected to strike about 1pm, by focussing on the fringes and containing edges of the blaze.
“We were hoping to have it contained by last night, but obviously with an number of incidents occurring yesterday that wasn’t possible,” Mr Collins said.
“If people drive on Woodstock Road they will still see things smouldering away and its the sort of thing we’ve been really focussing on. If we get strong wind gusts it will potentially push outside the burn area and that’s not what we want.
Firefighting aircraft were grounded on Friday after helicopter pilot Allan Tull died while conducting operations in the area.
Mr Collins said six aircraft would be in the air on Saturday. Four helicopters and two-fixed wing planes will continue to assist about 100 RFS, Fire and Rescue NSW and National parks and Wildlife Service firefighters with the Mt Kingiman fire, he said.
Shoalhaven RFS has requested residents who use Kyeema Drive, Brook Hollow Close, Tallow Wood Rd and Westlake Drive and traversing Woodstock Road to postpone all non-essential travel until the roads have been cleared.
“We’re just trying to clear trees and what not. We’d ask them if they can just hold-off,” Mr Collins said.
Shoalhaven RFS has also asked residents to refrain from undertaking any pile burns until Monday, when it can review weather conditions.
RFS confirmed the Kingiman fire has so far destroyed 15 outbuildings and damaged five.