Thousands of residents in northern NSW have encountered dangerous fire conditions as an ember attack began spot fires in a town of 4000 people.
Tenterfield, about 15km south of the Queensland border, was the epicentre of NSW’s firefighting efforts on Tuesday after seven blazes ignited to the town’s north, west and south.
Those were among 10 blazes to spark emergency warnings throughout the afternoon, several of which impacted homes.
Damage remains unknown with assessments only to begin once fire grounds are made safe.
Conditions were expected to ease throughout the evening but high fire dangers are predicted for the Tenterfield region and two other regions bordering Queensland on Wednesday.
“By no means should any resident be getting complacent,” Rural Fire Service (RFS) spokeswoman Victoria Quested told AAP.
“We need people to remain vigilant.
“Fire crews still have a lot of work ahead of us.”
The busy afternoon came after fire fronts quickly shifted under strong, gusty northwesterly winds and then pivoted after a southerly change.
Spot fires ignited in Tenterfield as embers were blown several kilometres west from the 2800-hectare Woodside fire.
The out-of-control Scrub Road blaze was impacting homes and properties 6km southeast of the town centre late on Tuesday afternoon.
Residents were also told to shelter in place in the Tenterfield shire communities of Tarban, Tabulam, Cullendore, Woodside and Sunnyside due to nearby, fast-moving blazes.
Meanwhile, a 100ha grass fire in the central west was downgraded to watch-and-act after encroaching on stored explosives south of the coal mining community of Ulan, forcing the establishment of a one-kilometre exclusion zone.
As of 7.30pm, 88 fires were burning across the state, 31 of which were yet to be contained.
Seven were at emergency warnings level, mostly about Tenterfield, while three blazes were subject to watch and act alert.
About 150km west in the border town of Boggabilla, unprepared residents faced calls to leave immediately for either the town centre or nearby Goondiwindi as a fire burned on the town fringes.
It came hours after Rural Fire Service Commissioner Rob Rogers warned firefighters and residents in the areas were in for a tense afternoon.
“[The fires] are very, very active,” he told ABC News.
“We’ve seen strong, gusty winds of 40, 50km/h.
“It’s going to be a really tense afternoon for both firefighters and residents.”
NSW crews were also concerned about the reactivation of the large Glens Creek Road fire southwest of Grafton, elevated to emergency warning level after jumping containment lines and burning through another 1500ha.
Those in the Blaxlands Creek, Blaxlands Flat and Nymbodia areas were told it was too late to leave while an evacuation centre was established at Grafton Racecourse.
Cooler, wetter conditions are due to ease the state’s fire threat on Wednesday.
Firefighters earlier battled a number of small grass and bushfires that broke out on Sydney’s outskirts in the morning.
