WELCOME rainfall on the weekend helped firefighters get on top of fires around the region with conditions somewhat easing.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But Tuesday looms as a critical point in the battle, with thunderstorms forecast for the region and lightning strikes posing a threat.
A cold front crossing NSW on Tuesday will also cause strong and gusty winds, which are likely to cause elevated fire danger ratings in some areas.
Read Also:
The cold front has caused a severe thunderstorm warning to be issued for the Tamworth region and has fire crews battling the Moonbi fire on high alert.
The weekend's rainfall allowed firefighters a chance to secure containment lines.
However, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has issued the severe thunderstorm warning for Tuesday afternoon and evening; most of the Tamworth region is expected to be affected.
Tamworth Rural Fire Service (RFS) manager Allyn Purkiss said lightning strikes posed the greatest threat to firefighters on the ground.
"Lightning is always a concern because it poses the threat of starting new fires," Mr Purkiss told the Leader.
"On Saturday alone, we saw four lightning strikes cause new fires.
"Luckily, we were able to get on top of those really quickly and prevent them from becoming more serious."
The weekend's rainfall, of more than 10mm in some places around the fire ground, has allowed firefighters a chance to set up containment lines and extinguish smouldering trees.
"There's no doubt the rain over the weekend helped slow the fire down for us," Mr Purkiss said.
"It's given us a really good chance to get our plant equipment into the fire ground, box the fire in and set up a 30-metre containment line.
"We still can backburn if needs be, but we will be waiting to see what the weather does before we make those calls.
"Recently, we have seen fires jump containment lines, with help from the weather, and while that is a worst-case scenario, we are prepared for it."
As well as a chance of severe thunderstorms, the BOM is also predicting an 80 per cent chance of rain for the Tamworth region.
However, while the chance of rain is high, up to 4mm is all that is expected for Tamworth.
Mr Purkiss said "substantial rain" would be needed to help extinguish the fire completely.
"There was enough rain over the weekend for it to be tough for us to get our equipment in on Monday morning," he said.
"However, we would need to see one or two inches of rain for this fire to be completely extinguished.
"We have established containment lines around Limbri and we will be monitoring conditions throughout the day."