NSW firefighters are racing to gain an upper hand on the already devastating bushfires that have destroyed at least 30 homes across the state before difficult conditions return.

With distraught residents returning to their communities to assess the damage, firefighters are working hard as they prepare for fire conditions to worsen again later in the week.

“We are racing against time before Friday where once again we are expecting to see temperatures on that fire ground hit the high 30s and coupled with those warm north-westerly winds,” RFS spokesperson Ben Shepherd told the Nine Network.

The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) confirmed on Monday that a total of 30 homes were destroyed in what has been described as the most unprecedented fire event in the state’s history.

At least five of those destroyed were in the 12-house community of Uarbry, with the captain of the local volunteer fire service finding he had lost his home.

Another 51 outbuildings and a church have been decimated in a blaze near Dunedoo, with fears the number could climb on Tuesday as authorities inspect more burnt areas.

There are 63 fires burning in NSW on Tuesday including 14 uncontained blazes, with a Watch and Act alert in place for the Sir Ivan fire.

Seven homes were known to be ruined at Pappinbarra near Port Macquarie, Dondingalong near Kempsey and Boggabri near Narrabri.

As of Monday, two firefighters had been hospitalised – one with a severely lacerated hand, the other with burns to his hands, arm and face.

The small town of Uarbry was destroyed. Photo: ABC

Mobile communication is patchy, phone lines are down, and the Golden Highway that links the tiny town to the outside world is shut.

The fire which blazed through Uarbry and burnt through about 50,000 hectares of bushland east of Dunedoo is still burning.

It is now heading north to Coolah and Leadville, where almost 900 properties are without power.

One of those properties lost was the historic homestead Tongy Station, considered one of the finest properties in NSW.

The station’s grand Victorian home, which was owned by the family of former Victorian premier Ted Baillieu for almost 100 years, has been “burnt to the ground”, according to real estate agent Richard Royle.

Mr Royle, who sold the property in late 2015 for just under $20 million, said the station’s livestock, old stables, wool shed, manager’s home and other cottages all survived the blaze.

“The western end of the property, on the Leadville side, has taken the hit. A lot of the outbuildings have gone,” he told AAP.

Tongy Station dates back to 1825, when former convict Richard Fitzgerald was granted freehold title of the property for his service to the colony through agricultural management.

This home belonged to an RFS firefighter. Photo: ABC

Meanwhile in Coolah, one resident Mal McMaster has been helping fight the fire and said he had barely slept in the last 48 hours.

“Friends have lost everything – stock, houses,” he told ABC.

“And when I came home last night I said ‘If this is hell, I never want to go there’.

“You can’t describe it. It’s just impossible to describe.”

At Boggabri in the state’s north-west, two men lost their home and all of their belongings.

One of them was helping his family fight another blaze at Dunedoo.

By Monday night, 60 fires were still burning, including 19 uncontained blazes, with a Watch and Act alert remaining in place for the Sir Ivan fire.

This homestead was destroyed by fire at Boggabri. Photo: ABC

Elsewhere in the communities around Pappinbarra Road, Beechwood, about 50 kilometres west of the coastal city of Port Macquarie, a fire started late on Sunday afternoon in the peak of catastrophic conditions and escalated very quickly.

Crews worked overnight to contain the fire which has now dropped to advice alert level, but it burned out about 500 hectares.

A rural firefighter was among those to lose a property a Dondingalong, south of Kempsey.

NSW Rural Fire Service spokesperson Cam Baker described the fire as “catastrophic”.

“It was the most unprecedented fire event that the Mid North Coast has ever seen in recorded history,” he said.

RFS volunteer charged over fires

Three people, including a former volunteer firefighter and a teenage boy, have faced court charged with deliberately lighting fires in separate incidents during the extreme heatwave conditions in NSW.

Three males aged 13, 32 and 40 were charged with the crime of arson, which RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons described as a “heinous act”.

RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons scolded the three alleged fire bugs for their ‘heinous act’. Photo: ABC

“How dare they, how dare you. It’s a criminal act, it’s a dangerous act,” he said on Sunday.

“You put the lives at risk of our firefighters, the vast majority of whom are out there doing it for free, simply to make a difference and protect their local community.”

Police say fires were deliberately lit at Mango Creek on the Central Coast on Sunday, at Orange on Saturday and at Nabiac on the mid north coast on Friday.

Ricky Kenneth Ballard-Lestrange faced court in Taree on Monday charged with two counts of intentionally causing fire and being reckless to its spread in relation to the Nabiac fires.

The 32-year-old is a former RFS volunteer and had two children aged under 10 with him at the time he allegedly lit the fires, the Newcastle Herald reported.

Ballard-Lestrange entered a plea of not guilty on Monday and was remanded in custody to reappear in the same Taree court next week.

He was arrested on Sunday afternoon after two fires were deliberately lit at Nabiac and police acted on information from witnesses who said a white van was seen near the fires.

Emergency crews extinguished the fires and no buildings were damaged.