BUSHFIRES have destroyed at least two NSW houses and injured two fire fighters.
The NSW Rural Fire Service says one house has been lost at Hawkesbury Road at Winmalee, in the Blue Mountains, and two firefighters battling the blaze there suffered minor burns.
A second house has been confirmed lost in Marsden Park in the Blacktown area, in Sydney's west.
Five firefighters have been treated for smoke inhalation.
Briefing parliament on Tuesday, NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said 59 bush and grassfires were burning across NSW with more than 500 firefighters and 200 appliances on the ground.
RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said having so many fires in such a concentrated area around Sydney's greater west was a challenge.
"As far as the crow flies they're all not that far apart," he told Fairfax Radio.
"Unfortunately I think we'll probably see some more
losses before the end of the day."
Winamalee High School was evacuated on Tuesday afternoon and was is being used as an evacuation centre for residents of the small Blue Mountains town of Hawkesbury Heights.
In Castlereagh around 300 students from St Paul's Grammar School were evacuated to Penrith's Whitewater Park after an emergency warning was issued for a fire threatening properties on nearby Devlin Street.
Sisters Melinda and Samantha Millard, from Horsley Park, rushed to Castlereagh to help their horse trainer only to be told it was too dangerous.
Melinda said her friends were at the heart of the fire zone trying to save their horse training facility.
"It's scary, it's not even my place, but knowing it could go any minute now is making me really emotional" she said.
"We want to help people and the animals."
More than 2000 people were evacuated from a University of Western Sydney (UWS) campus following a power outage affecting the entire Richmond area.
The RFS has issued emergency warnings for fires around the greater Sydney region including Marsden Park and Windsor.
The warm 50 klm/h winds fanning the fire are likely to ease on Tuesday evening, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman told AAP.
"(Tuesday) was certainly the hottest and windiest (day) of the week," she said.
It hit 32 degrees in Sydney on Tuesday but temperatures on Wednesday will be about 10 degrees cooler and winds will calm to about 30 klm/h.
"It will be a significantly different day."
Police minister Mike Gallacher is being escorted by police under lights and sirens to a briefing with the RFS at Homebush.
Residents from Windsor in Sydney's northwest are confronting a bushfire just metres from their homes.
Smoke billowed over Windsor Downs Nature Reserve as water bombing helicopters and crews battled grass fires fanned by winds up to 80km/h on Tuesday.
Sanctuary Drive residents Michael and Sandra Bellamy left work to return home and protect their house when they realised there was actually a fire in the reserve bordering their property.
"I got a text message from my daughter saying that I should probably go home," Ms Bellamy told AAP.
However, police road closures prevented her from reaching the family home, where they have lived for 19 years.
"I wasn't allowed in. Then my neighbour came by in the car and said, 'quick, get in' and I jumped in," she said.
Her husband, Michael, is confident firefighters will be able to contain the bushfire, one of more than 50 burning across NSW driven by the winds and temperatures up to 32 degrees.
"These guys are here to stop it in its track if it does come this way," he said.
"The wind is a bit of a worry, it's swirling around a lot. We don't know where it will end up, and we're still not sure."
Many residents had fireproofed their properties ahead of bushfire season, he said.
"I have got a pretty good fire plan set up here and we're ready to protect the house. I just wanted to make sure I was here to protect the house."
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