THE entire New England North West area is blanketed by total fire bans today, as fire crews continue to battle out-of-control bushfires in dangerous conditions.
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Severe fire danger ratings are in place for the Northern Slopes - including Gunnedah and Liverpool Plains areas - and North West fire zones.
There is a very high fire danger in the New England today.
As of this morning, all bushfires across NSW were at the lowest alert level of "advice", including at Kaputar, which just before 9am was still listed as under control over an area of 18,481 hectares.
The total fire ban is in place until midnight.
Efforts to control the Moonbi fire, near Tamworth, continue today after it has burnt more than 6250ha.
Police believe it was deliberately lit, and it remains under investigation.
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The Ebor blaze has burnt more than 17,065ha, and this morning the fire is moving to the south-east towards towards Waterfall Way and Oaky River, and west towards Wongwibinda.
It is anticipated Waterfall Way could close.
The RFS believed last night the fire could merge with the Carrai Creek blaze, which has already burnt about 200,000ha on the tablelands, towards the coast, after fire activity started to pick up in the Styx River area.
Tomorrow will be 'tough'
RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said that, since the start of the bushfire season, some 1.6 million hectares of land has been lost - more than during the entire 1993/1994 season.
Firefighters were battling a combined firefront of some 6000km, the equivalent distance of a return Sydney-Perth trip, Mr Rogers said earlier this week.
He said firefighters were "singularly focused" on preventing further loss of life and property and warned people to stay alert.
"Even though it's not a catastrophic danger [this week], it's still going to be bad fire days," Mr Rogers said.
"Tuesday and Thursday are going to be tough days."
He urged anyone who had not yet been affected by bushfires to "please use this as a wake-up call", and take steps including cleaning out gutters and making a fire safety plan.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the past week was a reminder "the summer isn't going to be pleasant in terms of the bushfire risk".
"I ask everyone to maintain their vigilance," she said.
"While conditions have eased and we're relieved about that, there are some concerns conditions on Tuesday and Thursday in particular, and we ask people to continue to listen and watch and be aware of the alerts they might receive.
"What this has done is give a huge wake-up call to NSW. We're still in spring. "When temperatures rise in summer, we know that conditions are going to worsen."