About 6000 South Coast residents and holidaymakers are seeking refuge in four surf clubs that have been declared as evacuation centres on Tuesday.
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Thousands of holidaymakers are unable to leave the area with the Princes Highway closed in many locations due to multiple fires burning between Nowra and Bega.
Tathra, Bermagui, Batemans Bay and Broulee surf clubs have all been declared evacuation centres.
An estimated 5,000 people are being sheltered at Bermagui Surf Life Saving Club.
About 1,500 of those are locals and the remaining 3,500 are visitors to the area and will require accommodation tonight.
Accommodation has been found for 550 of these people but 2,000 people may be without accommodation.
More than 178 people in Tathra are facing the same predicament and the community is being asked to render assistance by providing blankets and accommodation where possible.
At Broulee, 300 people have registered at the Broulee Surf Life Saving Club and are currently being accommodated on the beach.
An ambulance was called for five people in Broulee who were having breathing difficulty after smoke inhalation.
Heavy smoke and poor air quality in the area is causing respiratory problems with many of the people reporting to the four evacuation centres.
Volunteer surf life savers are providing first-aid oxygen therapy for those having breathing difficulties.
However, road closures are preventing the supply of badly needed oxygen cylinders to allow ongoing treatment.
At Bermagui Surf Club, surf life saving volunteers are assisting four general practitioners with first aid and oxygen therapy for those having difficulty breathing due to poor air quality in the area.
Police, Marine Rescue and Surf Life Saving NSW are meet at 3pm to identify the best way to conduct an on-water evacuation of many of the 5,000 people at Bermagui who require medical assistance - particularly those suffering breathing difficulties.
An on-water evacuation may involve ferrying people from the beach on Surf Life Saving NSW inflatable rescue boats to Marine Rescue and Police watercraft waiting off-shore.
Surf Life Saving NSW chief executive Steven Pearce said the organisation was working closely with the RFS, Police and Marine Rescue in response to this critical situation.
"Never before has Surf Life Saving NSW stood up these resources in a crisis like this. It's unprecedented," he said.
"Collectively, between four South Coast surf clubs, we have over 6,000 people's lives being protected which demonstrates the benefits of surf clubs to the community - beyond the beach.
"As CEO, I've never been prouder of our volunteer lifesavers working in these extreme conditions.
"We're throwing all our support behind the Rural Fire Service. We have lifesavers in every emergency operations centre that's been activated."
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