Top End residents are being warned of a very high fire danger following a series of breakaway blazes, with the region's woodlands carrying high fuel loads on the back of a big wet season.
Recent blazes from the outskirts of the Northern Territory capital Darwin south to the outback town of Katherine have kept firefighters busy amid high temperatures and strong winds.
A blaze on Wednesday at Blackmore, 80km from central Darwin, destroyed a house, a flat and a shed on one property before it was brought under control with the help of waterbombing aircraft.
Acting Chief Minister Gerard Maley said total fire bans remained in place across the Top End.
"It is a really dangerous time," told reporters on Friday.
"There's a lot of dry timber around, a lot of grass because we had a big wet season, so I ask people to be careful."
Bushfires NT executive director Andrew Thomas said five of the past six days had total fire bans, with more expected over the coming week.
"If it's not a fire ban, it's still going to be very high fire danger," he told reporters.
High fuel loads in the bush meant an increased fire risk across the territory as the bushfire season advances over coming weeks.
Mr Thomas commended fire crews for saving more than 20 homes at Blackmore in challenging and dangerous fire conditions on Wednesday.
The recent fires had put stress on emergency services, but there had been good co-operation between the key agencies to tackle the threat, he said.
Since April, Bushfires NT has responded to more than 440 incidents, with aerial firebombing planes dropping 730 loads of water and suppressants on blazes, equating to 2.1 million litres.
Firefighters had also deployed remotely piloted drones to identify hotspots to target and undertake assessments after a fire had gone through.
Mr Thomas urged people to take care in the dry conditions when carrying out grinding, welding and mowing work to ensure they were able to extinguish any fire that might start.
