While it burns in inaccessible country away from homes, all firefighters can do is strengthen containment lines ahead of any major wind shifts. The section 44 declaration gives the Rural Fire Service the power to enter lands and do whatever is necessary to contain the fire. This includes backburning and construction of fire breaks and containment lines.

Should winds shift dramatically - as they did on Tuesday when the cold front swept up the coast - the fire has the potential to move in a north easterly direction, again threatening properties in Brooman. In the worst case scenario it could get into the Budawang Range behind Ulladulla. The challenge is to prevent the blaze morphing into a monster like so many of the fires that have been ravaging the Mid-North and North coasts.

So far this season, we've been relatively lucky on the South Coast. Even during the catastrophic fire warning day, we were largely incident free, although there was one quickly contained instance of arson. However, the RFS was kept extremely busy responding to reports of smoke, which proved to dust blown in from the west. There reports were understandable given the dire fire danger warning.

The arrival of summer next week means the situation is going to get worse before it gets better. South Coast residents who have had trouble breathing face many more weeks of dust and smoke, with the Bureau of Meteorology's summer outlook predicting drier, warmer conditions than normal on the coast. The worry is that this extended fire season will become the new normal as it has in California. We need to steel ourselves for that eventuality.