At least 8 deaths in Australia's bushfire emergency

The number of lives lost in Australia's bushfires continues to rise as blazes burn out of control in New South Wales and Victoria.

Destroyed buildings in Cobargo, NSW. Source: AAP

At least 8 people are dead and hundreds of properties have been destroyed in East Gippsland in Victoria and on the South Coast of New South Wales. 

Lives lost, houses destroyed, coastal communities forced to run into the ocean and millions of Australia's native wildlife killed.

For Australians directly impacted by the fires, the annual "Happy New Year" greeting must surely sound particularly hollow

A resident looks at destroyed buildings in Cobargo, NSW. Source: AAP

As the fires continue to raze thousands of hectares, those managing the emergency say it could be many weeks before the threat is over.

That's how Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews views the challenges posed by the fires in East Gippsland.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to Jilly Brown and husband Mel Source: NEWS CORP POOL

With the conditions so dangerous, helicopters had to carry out firefighter shift changes to bring in new personnel and fly out  exhausted firefighters.

On the South Coast of New South Wales, the predictions are also grim.

At a media briefing in Batemans Bay yesterday,  Shane Fitzsimmons from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said in some areas it was an easier to count the number of properties that had not been destroyed.