Residents on isolated rural properties have received emergency text alerts warning them about quick-spreading bushfires near Port Macquarie and Kempsey on the NSW mid north coast.
The state's Rural Fire Service on Sunday afternoon upgraded its bushfire advice to emergency warnings for residents at Beechwood, Hollisdale, Lower Pappinbarra and Dondingalong.
At Dondingalong, 10 kilometres south of Kempsey, properties were under direct threat as an out-of-control fire burned in severe conditions.
Residents needed to seek shelter as the front arrived as it was too late to leave, the RFS warning said.
It was also too late for people to leave in the towns of Beechwood, Lower Pappinbarra and Hollisdale, near Port Macquarie.
The RFS emergency warning said two fires were burning west of Wauchope and moving quickly in a south-easterly direction towards Beechwood.
"The fire is burning under extreme fire danger conditions," it said.
"Under these conditions fires may spread quickly, cut roads and threaten properties."
Authorities have also warned local roads may be closed at short notice.
Large swathes of NSW are in the grips of unprecedented fire danger conditions, with senior firefighters describing the conditions as "off the conventional scale".
The Bureau of Meteorology rated the fire danger in the Greater Hunter, Central Ranges and North Western regions as "catastrophic".
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