‘It is ginormous’: bushfire in NSW’s central west puts rural communities on edge

The fire burning at Green Valley Creek near Mudgee in NSW’s central west. Photograph: Carla Kamsteeg

An out-of-control bushfire in New South Wales’s central west has blazed through properties and scorched bushland, with the NSW Rural Fire Service warning it could be “burning for weeks”.

Dozens of fires have been burning across NSW since Sunday as gusty winds and vegetation growth from last year’s high rainfall make it easier for flames to catch, according to Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology.