Whenever there's the threat of a bushfire somewhere in the Hunter-Port Stephens region, it puts Gordon and Margaret Miller on edge.
It's little wonder - the couple, aged in their 80s, have seen their fair share of close calls at their Tanilba Bay home in the two decades they have lived there.
The region was on alert on Tuesday amid catastrophic bushfire danger, after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a seven-day state of emergency on Monday.
The bushfire threat level was ratcheted to catastrophic across the Hunter, Greater Sydney and Illawarra, a little more than a year since flames ripped through bushland out the back of the Millers' house, raging dangerously close to their property.
Temperatures across the Hunter reached the high 30s and wind gusts up to 80km/h were recorded in some parts of the region.
Mr and Mrs Miller said they had a son in Nabiac and another in Gloucester on Tuesday as the Rural Fire Service faced about 70 blazes across NSW - mostly on the Mid North Coast and in the northern part of the state. It brought back memories of what they faced not so long ago.
"The firestorm came through here last year," Mr Miller said. "We were lucky."
Mrs Miller said the stress of living in a bushfire prone area took its toll, she suffered from shingles earlier this year.
And she said the warnings from the RFS this week were "really frightening".
When asked whether it was a relief when a high-risk bushfire day passed without incident near their home, she said: "no, there's always tomorrow".
"At some stage you know it's going to go again."
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