'We can't relax': Turia Pitt on the emotional toll of the bushfire crisis

Motivational speaker and athlete Turia Pitt has opened up about the emotional toll of the bushfires that have threatened her area, admitting she has struggled to keep it together.

Pitt, 32, who has a two-year-old son and is eight months pregnant with her second child, lives on the NSW south coast with her high school sweetheart, Michael Hoskin.

The area the couple live in has been one of the most heavily affected by the current bushfire emergency facing the Australian east coast.

"Fires had been raging up and down the South Coast for close to a month," Pitt wrote on Instagram on Monday morning.

"Michael did food and supply runs in his boat. We watched as the sky went red and black days before Christmas. More fires broke out on New Years Eve. I watched, my mouth agape, as two angry plumes from the fires north and south of us joined together over Mollymook Beach."

Turia and her family found themselves with no electricity, no phone service, ash falling from the sky and hearing rumours of houses and whole streets obliterated. The author had had packed her "go bag" and filled the bathtub with water.

"It's been a tough few weeks for me emotionally. I've had to focus on not letting my emotions and own experiences get the better of me," Pitt wrote, alluding to the 2011 accident that saw her endure burns to 65 per cent of her body.

Then 24, Pitt was running a 100 km ultra marathon through the Australian outback when she became trapped by an out-of-control grassfire. She was airlifted out of the remote desert barely alive. Pitt lost seven fingers and spent six months in hospital, where she had over 200 surgeries before spending two years in recovery.

Her post continued: "I've tried to not let the panic genie out of the bottle (because once that genie's out, you've got zero chance of squashing it back in). And, I'm exhausted. I feel like I've done 10 marathons. And we can't relax because it's only the start of summer, and it's not over yet."

The current situation surrounding Pitt's home has caused her to worry about the future of her child, and forced her into a state of unhappiness, where she says that she has to remember to pace herself.

"I've had recurring nightmares about running through flames with my son in my arms," Pitt admitted.

"It's been difficult to sleep, eat or think and all I've really wanted to do is tap out, put my head in the sand and pretend that nothing is going on."

Currently over five million hectares have burned in NSW since September, destroying 1482 homes, and killing hundreds of millions of animals and livestock.