AN expatriate Scot living in Australia fears his property could be destroyed by bushfires for the third time.

Alan Hay, 45, who is originally from Aberdeen, emigrated to the south of Sydney in 1992. Two years later, he saw a fire cause £300,000 of damage to an apple orchard on his land in the Wollondilly area.

In 2007, half of his house was destroyed by another blaze in the region.

Now, firefighters have been battling dozens of wildfires in New South Wales and with weather conditions set to get warmer, authorities fear more homes and lives will be lost.

Mr Hay, who runs a fitness centre, spoke as the latest bushfire was six kilometres from his home.

He said: "Fire can travel kilometres in a matter of hours, so it is a worry.

"When I experienced my first bushfire - having come from Aberdeen, the worst fire I had ever seen was a barbecue - it is an astonishing thing. If you can imagine the air being on fire, that is what it is like.

"I know people who have been affected recently.

"There are homes in the south highlands that have gone and friends of mine have been evacuated.

"You never get used to it. It is always a concern."

Mr Hay has been forced to pump water from a lake near his house on to the exterior of his home in an attempt to deter the flames.

He added: "There is not much you can do apart from proper protection.

"And after bushfires it takes a long time for things to get back to normal.

"We see the charred remains of trees and buildings and it is almost alien.

"I have seen some amazing things on my travels around the globe but a bushfire in full flow is something that is amazing but deadly.

"My thoughts are with those people who have lost everything and are concerned about people they have not been able to get in touch with and the firefighters who put their lives in danger on the front line."

The fires have killed one man, destroyed 208 homes and damaged another 122 in New South Wales state since last week, the Rural Fire Service said. Firefighters merged two of the most worrying blazes to try to reduce the threat of a more unpredictable inferno taking hold. There had been fears that three of the fires near the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, would join to create a wall of flames which would be difficult to control, so firefighters struck first, combining two of the blazes into one that is easier to contain.

New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the forecast for today was "about as bad as it gets".

"There is a very real potential for more loss of homes and loss of lives," he said.