Several bushfires are threatening homes in the NSW twin towns of Forster and Tuncurry, with one resident saying it looks like "Armageddon".
More than 65 fires are burning out of control across the state, with many breaking containment lines in strong and gusty winds.
On the mid-north coast, a blaze that began more than a week ago at Minimbah jumped a river and began moving towards Tuncurry - home to more than 6000 people.
Embers travelled kilometres ahead of the blaze, with one small blaze igniting on the headland at Forster Main Beach.
Andrew O'Sullivan, whose five-acre property on the edge of the Tuncurry township is covered in rainforest, said he'd been "right in the guts" of the blaze.
He said cabbage tree palms had been exploding and the heat of the fire "literally melted the pots off the plants" in a nearby nursery.
"It looks like Armageddon," he told AAP on Saturday.
"It's been pretty full on. We had it on four sides. I've never gone through this before and I never want to again."
He said keeping his home safe would have been very challenging without help from firefighters and friends.
Photographer Shane Chalker said he was shooting images of a bushfire before the word went out that his family were among those on his street being evacuated.
He stayed behind to put out spot fires.
"A friend was here helping me, hosing the roof," he told AAP.
"The embers were raining down on us pretty hard [and] the firebombing plane was going non-stop for a few hours."'
Tuncurry resident Sue said her property "being rained on with the charcoal and debris".
The Rural Fire Service reduced an emergency warning to a watch and act alert about 8.30pm but is still warning Forster-Tuncurry residents to be alert for falling embers.
The Tuncurry Beach Bowling Club, on Parkes Street, is serving as an evacuation centre.
One home appears to have been destroyed in a separate fire north of the township, the RFS said.
The Darawank fire burnt east towards the coast, before a southerly wind change spread the blaze along its flanks and in the direction of Hallidays Point.
That blaze is subject to a watch and act alert.
NSW RFS deputy commissioner Rob Rogers said the dry, hot and windy conditions had meant fires across NSW were doing extraordinary things usually reserved for summer.
"It's going to get worse before it gets better," Mr Rogers said.
"These conditions are going to continue to increase until we get that change and then it's going to be some time before conditions ease once the change comes through."
Seven other fires which had reached emergency or watch-and-act warning levels were downgraded on Saturday night.
Mr Rogers advised NSW to stay informed through media and the Fires Near Me app.
Those really concerned for their safety should contact triple zero, he said.
"There have already been a number of people airlifted out of fire affected areas today because they were quite concerned and they couldn't get out," he said.
