In the Hunter, thoughts the region could miraculously escape conditions officially classified as catastrophic faded when blazes at Greta and North Rothbury became emergencies in the early afternoon.

This region was lucky enough to go into Tuesday with only a handful of blazes already burning. From Bulahdelah north, there was no similar oasis in the charred country to at least the Queensland border.

School closures and other inconveniences hold little weight when lives are at risk. As NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons repeatedly stressed on Tuesday, people took the warnings seriously and implemented their steps to stay safe.

"Complacency kills," Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said. "We cannot afford for people to be complacent."

While Tuesday was expressly the primary threat given the forecast and the number of fires already smouldering in NSW, it has not entirely passed. The state of emergency will stay in place until next week for good reason.

Ken Pimlott, who retired in December after commanding California's response to that US state's worst bushfire, said it is time to accept that climate change had delivered a "new normal" in the fire seasons our volunteers are tasked with taming. Longer seasons has also created global strain given Australian and American authorities traditionally shared major equipment when their seasons were distinct.

"People need to recognise that this is not a short-term crisis," he said. "All the trends are going the same way."

In recent years, many of the most significant fires we have faced in the Hunter have blazed before the traditional October beginning of the bushfire season.

Regardless of Tuesday's outcome, that is a stark warning against complacency. Bushfire survival plans must become a core part of home preparation, if only because a failure to plan for natural disasters that can emerge so suddenly can quickly become a tragic plan to fail.

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce's speculation about the voting habits of two who died in bushfires deserves the type of derisive response his party mates have delivered to questions about climate change's role in the crisis. Equally, Greens senator Jordon Steele-John calling major party MPs "borderline arsonists" is equally useless in preventing future fires or assessing how we came to this dangerous tipping point.

It is time for our leaders to turn their attention closely to the factors at play behind these natural disasters, not the games of question time and populism. Bushland management and climate change are two clear starting points.