Fires in the Hunter finally appear to be easing, with the immediate threat to homes over as nightfall brought easing winds and cooler temperatures.
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60 fires burning across NSW
Two boys have been arrested after they accidently started a bushfire while camping near Port Stevens, as 25 fires continue to burn uncontrolled on Sunday morning. Vision courtesy ABC News 24.
More than 1100 firefighters were battling 65 bushfires across NSW during daylight on Saturday. The NSW Rural Fire Service was not aware of any injuries or loss of human life on Saturday evening.
An emergency warning was twice put in place for a blaze in Cessnock but was on Saturday evening downgraded to a watch and act by the Rural Fire Service.
About 175 firefighters battled the bushfire, which had threatened about 50 homes at Cessnock, Aberdare and North Kitchener with backburning operations continuing into Sunday.
Another emergency warning for a fire off Lone Pine Road in Port Stephens covering 620 hectares was also downgraded on Saturday to watch and act.
The fire had burnt towards the village of Limeburners Creek but slowed under cooler conditions and firefighters will continue to work on the fire through Sunday.
A third watch and act alert has been downgraded to an advice notice for an uncontained blaze that closed the Pacific Highway at Kundabung on the NSW North Coast, with firefighters protecting homes at nearby South Kempsey.
Crews are taking advantage of easing conditions to carry out backburning on the western edge of the Cessnock fire to try and contain it. An impact assessment will be carried out tomorrow, if safe, to determine if any homes have been lost or damaged.
A fire north of Raymond Terrace was also downgraded to Watch and Act.
Earlier in the evening the fire appeared to be on a collision course with the village of Limeburners Creek, however crews managed to slow its advance under cooler conditions.
The blaze is continuing to burn in the area around Bucketts Way. Firefighters will continue to work on the fire overnight and across Sunday.
Hot, gusty weather to continue
The blazes during the day were fanned by hot and gusty conditions, with winds up to 89km/h blasting NSW on Saturday. The state may continue to experience hot weather until Wednesday.
"It will still be warm and dry on Sunday, heating up on Monday and on Tuesday - we could see some hot and windy weather before some possible cooler weather returns on Wednesday," RFS Inspector Ben Shepherd said.
Car yard destroyed by massive fire
Meanwhile in Sydney, a fire that turned hundreds of cars into ash at a wrecking yard in Revesby was almost contained, according to NSW Fire and Rescue, with one man suffering minor burns and three men treated for smoke inhalation.
The injured men had been working at the wrecking yard when the fire started.
The workers suffering smoke inhalation were treated at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital, and have all been discharged. Another man suffering minor burns to his arm is in a stable condition at Liverpool hospital, and may be transferred to the burns unit at Concord Hospital.
Warm, windy and clear weather has assisted a series of fires across Sydney with emergency services responding to blazes in Castle Cove, Mulgrave, Llandilo, Revesby, Terrey Hills and the Hunter Valley.
Firefighters are also at the scene of a five-hectare grass fire on Byron Street in Mt Druitt, now contained with no properties threatened.
Line scan from Lone Pine fire (Port Stephens) this afternoon, showing intense fire that closed Pac Hwy for several hours. #NSWRFS pic.twitter.com/YCjQKMA4S1
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) November 5, 2016
The RFS has also issued a "watch and act" for a bush fire burning near the Pacific Highway at Balickera, north of the Grahamstown Dam and a bush fire burning at King Creek near Wauchope. Both are described as "out of control".
An eight-hectare fire in a Castle Cove reserve on Deepwater Road on the lower North Shore has been extinguished. The residents of ten homes that had been evacuated in the surrounding area have been allowed to return, with no property damaged. Former prime minister Tony Abbott was one of several volunteer firefighters who helped extinguish the blaze.
The first fire ban in NSW for the season has been in effect on the Far North Coast since this morning, in response to forecasts predicting warm weather and northwesterly winds of up to 60 km/h. A southerly change moving up the coast is expected to cool temperatures later tonight.
Rural Fire Services has listed the greater Sydney region as a 'very high' fire danger zone.
The past 36 hours have delivered a sobering portent of the fire risk in coming summer months.
On Friday a bushfire in Llandilo and Cranbrook burned ferociously for four hours, causing police officers to evacuate homes, two schools and a nursing home. The Rural Fire Service reported damage to a number of properties on streets bordering the fire.
Eventually, 200 firefighters from the Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue NSW were able to get the blaze under control at 6pm. On Saturday a 16-year-old boy was arrested at Penrith Railway Station and later charged with intentionally causing a fire and recklessness.
A 490 hectare fire that started on Friday continues to burn at Callala Bay near Jervis Bay.
A number of bushfires have sparked in to the Hunter Region threatening road access and property. Inspector Ben Shepherd of the Rural Fire Service said an out of control bushfire on Racecourse Road is expected to cross the railway line. Property protection action is underway. Another out of control bushfire north of Raymond Terrace, originating on Lone Pine Road, is expected to cross the Pacific Highway.
with AAP