Teams of firefighters were last night working feverishly to douse the blaze, which had ripped through 30 hectares of land to the north of the city by mid-afternoon.

Any summer in our hot, dry continent presents fertile bushfire conditions.

But the portents of doom are particularly strong this summer.

Just five days ago, Tamworth sweltered through its hottest October day on record.

Forecasters have warned the scorching weather isn’t going anywhere.

Couple that with a high fuel-load on the ground, caused by an asphyxiating drought and a dramatic reduction in burn-offs, and you have a recipe for catastrophe.

We don’t have to glance far back into history to see how real the threat is.

The fire crisis that engulfed the Blue Mountains a year ago offers a sobering reminder of how fleeting fate can be in our sunburnt country.

And it was less than two years ago that dozens of homes were lost in the Warrumbungle National Park near Coonabarabran when a relentless fire-front tore through the region.

Despite the freshness of those tragedies, recent surveys suggest only a fraction of residents have proper emergency preparedness plans for bushfires.

The message is simple: if you live near bushland, you need to be prepared for the prospect of a bushfire coming near your home.

Ensure your home is free from debris and old leaves and keep woodpiles and other flammable materials well away from the house.

Keep your lawn short and the backyard tidy and consider purchasing a portable pump to use from your swimming pool or water tank. 

We are on the cusp of a long, hot summer where a perfect storm of factors means the bushfire threat is at a peak.

Complacency is as big a threat as the fire itself: it could cost you your house and belongings, or even worse, your life.