Currently, the entire state of NSW has been declared in drought and the extremely dry conditions have led to many NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) districts declaring an early bushfire danger period.

Many northern parts of the state commenced on August 1, the Chifley/Lithgow zone (which includes Bathurst, Lithgow and Oberon) will start on September 1.

However, the Mid Lachlan Valley RFS zone, which includes Parkes, Forbes and Grenfell, will remain at the statutory start date of October 1.

Mid Lachlan Valley district manager Ken Neville conditions were very dry and being monitored closely.

“It’s very dry, but people are still burning off safely,” he said.

“We will just continue to monitor it and discuss with our volunteers, but at this stage we’ll keep the statutory bushfire period.”

The bushfire danger period in the Mid Lachlan Valley zone will run from October 1 2018 until March 31 2019.

Mr Neville said, however, that it would not take much for a fire to take off in the region due to the conditions.

“The timbered areas will be our biggest risk and there’s always the possibility that we could get ignitions from lightning strikes which we can’t do anything about,” he said.

Mr Neville said care needs to be taken by anyone using equipment that creates sparks, such as angle grinders, welders, slashers or motorbikes.

“Make sure you’ve got the necessary precautions and don’t do these jobs on your own,” he said.

He also encouraged people to ensure they had adequate water supplies or firefighting equipment when using theses types of equipment near dry grassed areas.

DOZENS of firefighters were responded to Bilpin in the Blue Mountains on Wednesday as an out-of-control blaze spread through bushland.

Strong winds fanned the blaze and crews held concerns for isolated properties in the region.

The Bells Line of Road was closed for most of the afternoon with motorists forced to take a detour around the emergency.

An alert from the RFS on Thursday states the while the fire has increased to 200 hectares in size, conditions had eased on the fireground.

There is still fire activity behind properties north of Bells Line of Road and firefighters provided protection to isolated properties throughout the night.

Firefighters and aircraft will continue work on the fire throughout the day on Thursday to establish containment.

To keep up to date with the latest local Rural Fire Service information visit https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/about-us/our-districts/mid-lachlan-valley