Australia fires: 'There were fireballs falling all around her'

More than 3,000 firefighters in Australia are battling devastating bushfires raging across New South Wales.

Fire officials say the threat to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney has been "averted" for the day, but warn the crisis is not yet over.

Amy Hubbard described how her mother Catherine awoke in her home in Winmalee, to find the house surrounded by flames and "fireballs falling all around her".