NSW Rural Fire Service crews arrived about 12.45pm after calls were made to emergency services about a fire near Carrs Road.

The bushfire was listed as out of control on the NSW RFS website at 5pm and had reached 

Old Maitland Road, but RFS Inspector Ben Shepherd said there was no threat to people or property.

“It’s not threatening anyone at this moment, it’s burning very slowly and not burning towards Neath at all,” he said.

“We are in the process of identifying containment lines at the moment and there may be back burns later on; we’re not expecting any real issues.

“There has been no doorknocking or evacuating of the streets or anything like that, there have been no road closures.”

Up to 12 NSW RFS trucks attended the fire as well as two NSW Fire & Rescue crews.

Inspector Shepherd said, while the fire had been marked for investigation, that did not mean the fire was suspicious.

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“This will allow fire investigators to look at the origin and the cause and work out how and why it started,” he said.

The RFS website listed the fire as advice level, meaning there was no immediate danger to houses, but Inspector Shepherd said 40 to 50 hectares of bushland had been destroyed.

Firefighters were preparing to backburn late yesterday afternoon.

Earlier, fire crews had set up a command centre on Cessnock Road with a number of police vehicles also in attendance.

The cause of the fire will be investigated. 

There were also reports of grass fires at Weston, Kurri Kurri and East Branxton yesterday afternoon. 

Temperatures reached 37 degrees at Tocal yesterday after the mercury rose to 43.4 degrees on Sunday.

A total fire ban was in place for most of the state over the weekend.

More than 90 fires burned across NSW yesterday.

Showers are expected to provide some relief from the oppressive conditions today, with a top temperature of 28 degrees expected for Maitland.