(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
That includes the loss of hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue - because the usually steady stream of tourists to the area remains a trickle.
Greg Navarro reports.
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Amid the destruction that remains in a Winmalee neighbourhood devastated by fire can be seen signs of new life sprouting from charred trees - and an effort to rebuild.
Further west, in Katoomba, bookstore owner Karen Andrews is still waiting for a similar sign almost seven weeks after the well-publicised bushfires.
"When everything was broadcast on the news about how difficult it was up here people stopped coming and they haven't started coming back again."
Now, just a year and a half after buying the business, Karen's dream of owning a book shop is slipping away and she's looking for another job.
In a region that relies so heavily on tourism - the bushfire's impact across the Blue Mountains is unmistakable, says Mountain Heritage hotel General Manager Eric Sward.
"In my years in the industry I've worked in a number of parts of Australia with cyclones and so forth in Queensland but I've never experienced a situation as bad as this one."
Hotels and inns, cafes and clothing shops: Mr Sward says no-one is immune to the drop in business.
"We got about in one day I think 60 phone calls in a row that were cancellations for bookings, saying 'We can't come because the fires are on,' and so forth. We even got calls from overseas as far away as Holland saying 'We've got to cancel our groups because the mountains are on fire'."
Those bushfires devoured more than 200 homes and thousands of hectares.
The images were broadcast around the world.
"We just know it was a big fire and it affected so many people. That's all we heard from China."
Randal Walker, who heads Blue Mountains, Lithgow, and Oberon Tourism, says the coverage has so far cost the area's economy about $50 million in lost revenue, and more than 200 jobs.
"The exaggerated reporting of the bushfires has put in the mindset of consumers that they should perhaps not visit the Blue Mountains."
But Mark Greenhill, who served as mayor for just six weeks before the bushfires broke out, says the media played an important role.
"The reason we were able to get the messages out to people about being safe and doing the right thing was because the media was there for us."
There's another side to all this - the people who live and work in the Mountains.
Employers say some people who have had their hours reduced or lost their jobs have already left the area, and Eric Sward is concerned that trend will continue.
He says people are already leaving the Mountains to work in the city.
"So if things do pick up then we're facing a skill shortage."
Mark Greenhill says the challenge now is to entice tour buses back and convince more people the major tourist attractions were untouched by fire.
"We need people to help us save our economy we need people to come visit the Blue Mountains. They're beautiful, they're open for business - and we want you to come back."
