A massive bushfire burning north of Medowie has been downgraded overnight to the Advice Level thanks to favourable conditions.
Crews worked through the night backburning and putting in containment lines on the southern and eastern sides of the 8,000 hectare blaze.
However John Redman from the Rural Fire Service says firefighters remain on alert with strong winds forecast today before a southerly change blows through early this afternoon.
"But we are in for a really warm day today - temperatures in excess of 35 degrees, really low humidity and there's going to be a north-westerly wind. But we are expecting a cooler change to come through a bit later this afternoon which could bring a few showers and some relief to firefighters," he said.
More than 250 firefighters have been deployed to fight the fire along with DC-10 air tankers which are capable of dropping 40,000 litres of fire retardant or water on the blaze.
People living along Taylors Road and Pipe Clay Road, north of Medowie are being told to monitor conditions and be aware of smoke or embers
The Buckets Way was re-opened overnight and Medowie Road was re-opened this morning, however motorists are being urged to check https://www.livetraffic.com/desktop.html in case there's a need to carry out emergency roadworks.
Meanwhile, the Cessnock fire has now been contained after burning through more than a thousand hectares.
Crews spent the night patrolling and mopping up.
