THIRTY-eight Tasmanian firefighters hit the ground in Nundle on Thursday, backed by the state's large air tanker, as crews throw everything at the wild fire burning through forest.
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The Goddo's Road fire flared on Thursday, as the Rural Fire Service (RFS) tried to "knock it down" before conditions worsened.
The air tanker - which is capable of carrying more than 15,000 litres of retardant - did several runs over the 1200-hectare fire ground between Nundle and Hanging Rock on Thursday afternoon.
The blaze was declared a Section 44 on Wednesday, which allows outside and interstate resources to be deployed to relieve exhausted fire crews.
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Tamworth RFS Inspector Steve Prior said crews had been working around the clock on the fire, but now they were co-ordinating the logistics of the 38 firefighters from Tasmania.
"They are a mix of Tasmanian National Parks staff and Tasmanian Fire Service crews, and they will make up two strike teams," he said.
"They flew in on three charter flights on Wednesday and were sent on a bus out to Narrabri, where they picked up 14 vehicles out there.
"They then slept the night at Boggabri and came to Tamworth, where they sorted the vehicles and went straight up to Nundle.
"They are backing up the Forestry crews, who have an enormous amount of vehicles and people up there that they've bought up from around the state."
But locals aren't out of the woods yet.
RFS public liaison officer Myles O'Reilly said the fire had flared on the western side in the forest on Thursday, and even locals had noticed the extra fire activity.
"There is several aircraft in operation and the intent is to knock it down as quickly as we can," he said.
"It's been doing a few runs and is making some good progress."
By late Thursday, crews were confident they had contained the fire on the eastern side, and about "60 per cent of the western division," which was closer to Nundle.
Residents in the area of Devils Elbow, Hanging Rock, Duncan Creek and Munro Creek were still being urged to monitor the conditions, and have bushfire plans in place if the worst unfolded.
Oxley police are continuing to investigate the cause of the suspicious fire, after forensic police examined the fire ground.
On Thursday, they made another public appeal for help, especially from anyone with images or vision of suspicious activity in the Nundle forest area.