A crew from Newcastle and Morisset along with  two crews from Teralba are bolstering our local ranks.

Singleton 444 Deputy Captain, Jon Deaves, says this means there are 5 appliances (trucks) at the station and sixteen extra personnel.

Singleton has also sent a tanker to Muswellbrook where extra crews have also been deployed.

RFNSW Inspector and strikeforce co-ordinator, Brett Crotty, says this has been has done to maintain the weight of attack.

“If something happens we can act straight away rather than having to call in extra crews and waste time,” he explains.

Mr Crotty is based in Newcastle and can’t recall this level of danger ever being present in the Hunter.

And, this is why a blanket warning was sent out to everyone in the Greater Hunter via text message and phone calls.

This was necessary because authorities can’t guarantee they can get to every fire that may ignite.

“We don’t want people to panic but we can’t be everywhere,” he explains.

“The difference today is the increased humidity.”

For more information head to the RFS website and the fires near me section.

An update on the RFS Hunter Valley facebook page at about 2pm says all fires burning in the Hunter Valley area (Singleton and Muswellbrook LGAs ) are contained. 

“We have smoke from the large fire burning near Cassilis funnelling down the Valley. The fire is burning with so much intensity that the smoke plume is visible on weather radars.”