ABC Fire crews will work through the night strengthening containment lines and back-burning. Total fire bans are in place across several parts of New South Wales as the Rural Fire Service warns of severe fire danger due to hot, dry and windy conditions.
Fire bans are in place for Sydney, the Hunter, the north coast, New England and the northern slopes.
An emergency warning for the Shallow Bay area on the mid north coast has been downgraded to watch and act, but residents are being urged to remain vigilant throughout the night.
RFS spokesman Brendan Doyle says people with fires burning near their homes need to be alert to potential danger.
“Anyone that’s near these fires right across the state, with the weather that we’re going to see on Saturday, we need people to be vigilant,” he said.
“We don’t need them to be alarmed. We want people to stay up to date with information.
“We want people to seek information on the Rural Fire Service website and make sure they know what they’re going to do if the situation changes and they’re affected by a fire.”
Mr Doyle says hundreds of firefighters are working through the night.
“What crews will be doing is patrolling those containment lines they’ve identified,” he said.
“They may be, in some areas, performing some areas back-burning operations off major roads and fire trails in that area.
“Basically what they’re trying to do is get as much done prior to any warmer weather in the day that’s going to start on Saturday.”
