NSW, QLD fires LIVE: Coffs Harbour put on alert as RFS continues to fight blazes across country, state of emergency declared in NSW

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You can catch up on today's events here. 

We're expecting to face catastrophic fire dangers tomorrow, so check out what you need to know ahead of tomorrow here. 

Stay up to date on fires in your area. You are urged to download the Fires Near Me app at https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me.

Due to fire activity, both main and local roads may close without warning. For the latest information on road closures, check www.livetraffic.com or download the Live Traffic NSW app or call 132 701.

Make sure you follow our fire map throughout the night. 

Former Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham has said residents near Coffs Harbour living west of the Pacific Highway are being advised to evacuate the area.

Mr Buckingham said he had evacuated his home and had headed to Urunga Golf Course.

He said he will be living in his tent at the golf course until it's safe to return home.

‘It’s absolutely populated by thousands and thousands of houses,” he said. “No-one can believe it’s happening”.

“I have never heard of an Australian city being evacuated before. Even the Big Banana is at risk."

Dungay: In the final 24 hours before an extreme bushfire is forecast to approach the fence line of her Dungay property, Sue Clarke is preparing.

"We just don't know what we're preparing for," the mother and grandmother said.

Trees have been cut, sheds cleared, paddocks bulldozed, water pumps readied over the past 10 days, since she and her family learned fires were approaching from three sides.

An eerie quiet hangs in the valley below the historic home, which has been in her husband Ron’s family since it was built in 1931. 

Dungay cattle farmer Sue Clarke packing a vehicle ahead of worsening conditions.Credit: Wolter Peeters

"It is an old home, we are trying to save it."

In the rural setting, to the state's north, residents were "strongly advised" to leave on Monday afternoon, ahead of extreme fire conditions predicted on Tuesday.

Emergency services have remained reticent to use the word "evacuate", but by Tuesday they might.

"I'm not leaving, not yet," Mrs Clarke said. My life is important, I know that and if it be a danger to my life I probably would have to go but I will try and stay. We just need to prepare.

More than 100,000 homes in the Sydney basin alone are within 100 metres of bushland, placing them at risk of destruction based on previous bushfire activity, writes Peter Hannam. 

Data from the consultancy Risk Frontiers identified premises exposed to extensive bush.

Of the total, more than 31,500 homes on Sydney's north shore were in "at-risk" areas - from Belrose to Berowra, and south to Lane Cove - while Turramurra had the most homes nestled near bush with some 4500 residences.

The analysis showed Springwood in the Blue Mountains also had 6500 houses located within risky distances of bush, while in the postcodes around Gosford on the Central Coast some 14,275 homes were in similarly high-risk areas.

Other high-risk postcodes in Sydney include Engadine, Menai, and Hornsby.

Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill said the council already had "the most restrictive" rules in NSW in terms of where buildings can go, including their siting on individual blocks.

Congarinni: After spending most of her life as a landowner in the state's mid-north coast, Helen Rushton says she can't help but feel "forgotten" in times of natural disaster.

"Up in the country we keep saying NSW is Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong. Because that's where the main resources go and we understand that because that's where the population is," Ms Rushton said. "But it's up here, at times like this, when we need the resources."

NSW FIRES: Congarinni property owners Owen and Helen Rushton have been watching the bushfire as it approaches their property near Macksville in northern NSW. 11th November 2019, Photo: Wolter Peeters, The Sydney Morning Herald.Credit: Wolter Peeters

From a hill on her Congarinni farm, just outside of Macksville, she and her husband have been watching the Kian Road fire inch ever closer since Friday, when the skies above glowed orange and she and her family felt seriously under threat.

"People talk about climate change and the politics ... the political part of it is we need resources for when these types of incidents occur," she said.

"When we have floods we never get mentioned on television or radio or anything. It's only the big places. We always seem to be forgotten," she said.

Read more here. 

The highest Forest Fire Danger Index reading in the Sydney region is currently 109, according to the NSW RFS.

That’s beyond the 100-point ‘catastrophic’ threshold, but only for a region of northwest Sydney.

Most of the basin is just below that 100-point mark, with the Picton area to the city’s south also showing high readings, senior NSW RFS spokesman and Inspector Ben Shepherd said. 

At the moment, the fire causing some of the most concern is out near the Putty Road and Gosper Heights.

This fire could burn towards Wisemans Ferry tomorrow, Inspector Shepherd said.

Volunteer firefighters from Thornton Rural Fire Brigade are ready for action.Credit: Jonathan Carroll

Dungay cattle farmers pack their vehicle ahead of worsening bushfire conditions tomorrow. Credit: Wolter Peeters

Additional independent and catholic schools will be closed tomorrow.

You can check the status of your school below: 

Health NSW has warned that air pollution levels are likely to worsen with tomorrow's expected jump in bushfire activity.

Across NSW as of early evening, air quality readings have started to climb from good to fair levels.

The exceptions were the Lower Hunter region, Central Coast and Northern Tableland regions which are experiencing hazardous air quality.

Air quality index values for NSWCredit: NSW Governmnet

Sydneysiders are reporting hazy conditions outside, which has been caused by a controlled fire at Gospers Mountain, northeast of Lithgow.

A northerly wind is responsible for bringing the smokey-haze down to the city.  

Residents in Sydney, the Hunter and the Illawarra/Shoalhaven districts may wonder how they are all in 'catastrophic' ratings areas.

Well, it works like this: the Bureau of Meteorology carves up NSW into 6 km-square data points.

When the share of an area tips over 10 per cent, the rating is adjusted to that level for the whole forecast district.

So those high ratings, in other words, are set by a sizeable share but do not mean the whole of the district is at that high rating.