As firefighters battled to get more than 100 Australian bushfires raging across the east coast under control, official weather forecasts on Thursday showed no substantial rain for at least three months.

After relief that no further lives were lost on Tuesday, concern was growing over unpredictable winds worsening fires in the neighbouring state of Queensland on Wednesday, with much hotter temperatures also predicted for the Sydney area in the coming days.

The four dead bodies have been found in recent days in the central and northern coast of New South Wales, the area most affected by the bushfires that have injured more than 100 people and razed some 300 buildings in an area of more than 11,000 sq.km.

New South Wales’ Rural Fire Service said Thursday morning there were about 60 fires active, with 30 of them uncontained in the state where some 1,200 firefighters tried to mitigate the flames in the face of worsening conditions, such as rising temperatures and wind.

Dozens of fires also burn in the neighbouring state of Queensland and authorities have ordered an evacuation in towns such as Noosa North Shore and Woodgate.

The current fires in NSW cover four times the land area that burned during the whole of 2018, according to Fitzsimmons. There are also fires in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

The fires have been fuelled by tinder-dry conditions after three years of drought that experts say has been exacerbated by climate change, a factor that has sparked a sharp political debate in recent days.

Firefighters have said the blazes will burn for weeks without significant rainfall.

On Wednesday, a helicopter crashed while fighting with extream bushfire and the pilot managed to survive with only minor injuries.

Earlier on Tuesday, several new fires broke out to scores of blazes that have been burning for several days across New South Wales (NSW) state.

Currently, more than 50 fires have continued to burn in the two states last week. The blazes also claimed that the lives of three people so far.

Queensland is on high alert amid severe fire conditions, with a forecast wind change expected to worsen several large blazes in difficult-to-access areas of the state.

About 70 fires are burning in the state, with Pechey residents told the safest option is to leave the area as conditions are currently too dangerous.

Earlier this week, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said that linking the fires to the government’s support of the coal industry was “the ravings of some pure, enlightened and woke capital city greenies”.

(With inputs from agency)