Emergency warnings for 17 fires in New South Wales – as it happened

Ok, we’re going to leave it there for this evening. Thanks for joining us and we’ll be back in the morning with more reporting on the bushfire situation.

For information about current bushfire warnings monitor emergency websites, including www.rfs.nsw.gov.au and www.qfes.qld.gov.au.

AAP reports a cool change later on Friday night should bring cooler temperatures to much of southern Queensland by Saturday morning, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s Jess Gardner, but fresh winds make firefighting difficult.

Hotter temperatures, that have fanned the flames around the south of the state, will move further north on Saturday, she said.

And a reminder of helpful contact numbers if you’ve been affected by the fires.

The mayor of Port Macquarie Peta Pinson tells the ABC the area is “really feeling the effects of this drought” with “tinder-dry fuel loads on [the] forest floor”.

“We hope for the best,” she said. “We are being told that things that could deteriorate further.”

She said the situation is still unfolding.

“[People] in the Crowdy Head area, and people in the Dunbogan area, have been door-knocked by the SES. I have spoken to Laurieton Club, and it’s been an evacuation point and there are about 100 people being cared for at the club. They are not able to go home because there are grave fears for the situation to deteriorate ... as the hours pass.”

A 7NEWS video from a couple of hours ago of buildings on fire in Rainbow Flat, halfway between Newcastle and Port Macquarie.

Prime minister Scott Morrison calls the large number of bushfires burning in NSW and Queensland “incredibly concerning”.

The ABC reports that two structures have been damaged or destroyed by fires in Cooroibah on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, according to QPS senior sergeant Steve Hall.

People in the path of a bushfire on the Sunshine Coast have been warned they have a long night ahead of them, AAP reports.

The blaze threatening homes at Cooroibah on Friday afternoon has been declared an emergency and people have been evacuated.

Noosa Mayor Tony Wellington said the situation was “very volatile” early on Friday night.

He said police had recommended that Old Tewantin residents evacuate. New Tewantin residents should be on alert.

“It’s going to be a long night, it’s going to be a distressing night,” Wellington said. “My sympathies go out to everyone.”

Cooroibah resident Denyta Eaton fears for her horses she left behind when fleeing her home with her brother and parents. Eaton said the fire had been burning about one kilometre from their property but the wind pushed the blaze to their back fence within about 20 minutes.

The family took their dogs but they had no time to walk the horses out. A neighbour cut the fence to prevent the horses, Cody and Effy, being trapped.

“There was so much smoke we could barely breathe,” she said.

Graeme Evans, the president of the Port Macquarie Community Garden, tells the ABC he lives in a suburb of 500 or 600 homes – most of them only about five or six years old.

He says he can see trees in flames from his back verandah and that “the helicopters have been coming back every half an hour to water bomb the hot spots”.

Evans describes the conditions as “extremely uncomfortable”.

Here’s an photo taken earlier today of a water bombing plane dropping fire retardant on a bushfire in Harrington in NSW.

View image in fullscreen

Fires in Woodford in the Blue Mountains have been downgraded to watch and act.

The NSW Rural Fire Service says they haven’t been able to reach everyone who called for help and to register at the following link if you or someone you know was affected: register.redcross.org.au

This map shows the spread and intensity of bushfires across Queensland and NSW.

Residents of one small Queensland town have two dangerous bushfires burning on either side of them, AAP reports.

One of them is a blaze at Tarome, a rural hamlet some 80km southwest of Brisbane, that is expected to affect the little community by early evening.

The other blaze is at Clumber and Moogerah, where a prepare to leave order has been issued.

People were told to leave Tarome on Friday afternoon as the fire raced towards Tarome Road, Ryan Road, Simmonds Road, Hinrichsen Road, Campsite Road, Rose Road and the Cunningham Highway.

Roads were blocked and evacuation centre was set up at nearby Aratula.

The RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons tells the ABC that authorities have received preliminary reports from the field. He says there has been “widespread property damage and destruction” across multiple fire grounds.

The RFS has also received a few reports of minor injuries to both fire fighters and residents protecting their homes, Fitzsimmons says.

“It’s been a tough day,” he says. “And we’ve still got a long time left yet to deal with these fires.”