THE Kearsley bushfire has been downgraded from an emergency as NSW Rural Fire Service crews brought the blaze under control late on Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier in the day emergency warnings were issued to residents in the Hunter Valley communities of Kearsley, Elrington and Abernethy to seek shelter as the bushfire intensified in the hot and dry weather conditions.
The RFS reported at one stage embers were being blown ahead of the front and were starting spot fires in Elrington, east of Kearsley.
Kearsley mother-of-three, Danika Bruhn, evacuated her Lake Road home with her two pet rabbits and rat as flames approached her backyard boundary.
"The wind isn't going in one direction, so we were told to leave as it's better to be safe than sorry," Ms Bruhn said.
She said other neighbours in Lake Road had also evacuated their homes.
Ms Bruhn was able to return to her home at around 4.30pm.
The NSW Rural Fire Service issued its initial emergency warning just after 2pm as the fire continued to burn out of control at Allandale Street, south of Kearsley.
A bushfire in the Watagans National Park was also brought under control on Tuesday afternoon, after it was initially listed as "watch and act".
The Watagans blaze is at Gap Creek Lookout Road, 11 kilometres north of Morisset.
On Tuesday morning the fire burnt out of control and engulfed 19 hectares of bushland and was moving in a southeasterly direction towards Mount Nellinda Road.
There are several other fires burning around the Hunter, which are all under control.
A total fire ban was in place for the Hunter on Tuesday and will continue into Wednesday.
Temperatures of 32 degrees for Newcastle and 31 degrees for Cessnock are predicted on Wednesday before a cool change offers some relief on Thursday.
