More than 350 schools and TAFE campuses will be closed tomorrow in Sydney, the Hunter region, Blue Mountains and the south coast due to forecast "catastrophic" fire conditions.
The NSW Department of Education has published a full list of site that will be closed — this number is expected to rise as authorities continue to carry out risks assessments.
Early on Monday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a state of emergency for NSW for the next seven days.
In Sydney, some of the suburban schools earmarked for closure include Manly Vale Public School, Menai High School, Oatley West Public School and Lindfield Learning Village.
In the Blue Mountains the department is shutting down a number of schools including Katoomba High School and Leura Public School, while on the south coast and in the Illawarra, Mount Kembla Public School and Vincentia High School are among the schools closing.
On the Central Coast, Avoca Beach Public School and Blue Haven High School will be among those that shut down for the day.
Why should people in the suburbs be worried?
While many of the schools that are closing are in suburban areas, the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) is warning that the danger is real and that live embers could fly up to 30 kilometres from the fire front.
To give you an idea of the seriousness of the situation, on Friday, when more than 150 properties were destroyed in the state's north, embers were only travelling 12 kilometres from the front.
Bushfire behaviour expert Dr Trent Penman said the volatile wind conditions posed a clear risk for city and town properties, as they were geographically surrounded by forests and grassland.
"A single ember can start a fire in the bark mulch or straw mulch that someone has in their garden … which very quickly could move to the area around the house," he said.
"I think it is important not to be complacent and to realise that the risk is not just in the forest but in surrounding areas as well."
Where should people go?
The RFS advised residents to leave their homes if they were even a little bit unprepared.
"The simple message message will be, if you or your property are not prepared, you should not be in the area," Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said.
The RFS will publish a list of safe areas later today for people to take refuge from the risky fire regions.
"We are preparing maps that we will end up showing people to say where we think these fires will end up, and then there will be some specific advice for people within that potential fire path of what we will suggest they do," the Deputy Commissioner said.
The RFS suggests that people in risky areas, like on top of a ridge, or places with only one escape route should aim to be somewhere else in the heat of the day.
"Just don't put yourself in a bushfire prone area [like] right in the bush," Deputy Commissioner Rogers said.
"Don't be there for that part of the day if you are in that catastrophic fire danger area — it doesn't mean evacuate areas — it means think smart, be smart in your planning."
