TWO properties have been destroyed, a property owner hospitalised and several firefighters have collapsed after a "very, very challenging" day of bushfires in NSW.
Despite plummeting temperatures bringing a cool change across the state on Friday night, firefighters were warning the battle against the blazes is far from over.
The number of total fires burning in NSW rose to 120 on Friday after a day of intense heat and gusts of up to 90km/h fanned the flames of existing fires and sparked new blazes.
Twenty-six of those were uncontained as of 11pm (AEDT) on Friday.
"It's been a really, really challenging day for firefighters across the state," an RFS spokeswoman told AAP.
"It didn't get into catastrophic, but it was up at the high end of extreme in a number of places.
"And while the cool change will certainly provide some relief, we've got many large bushfires burning that are not going to be wrapped up just because the temperatures drop."
Disaster struck in the Bega Valley on Friday evening after a new bushfire west of Merimbula destroyed two properties and two sheds in the Millingandi area.
It brings to 53 the number of properties destroyed in the devastating NSW fires this year.
That fire crossed the Princes Highway on Friday afternoon and was threatening more properties between Wolumla and Millingandi, with firefighters working desperately thorough the night to contain it, the RFS said.
At Nowra, a rural property owner was taken to hospital after an "erratic" fire at Barringella Creek swept through a farm and destroyed a shed on the town's outskirts.
The bushfire, burning 12km southwest of Nowra, was downgraded to 'watch and act' on Friday, but there were still concerns some properties could be at risk if the wind changed.
Temperatures across the state were well into the 40s, sparking a number of blazes, including a fast moving grassfire at Boorowa, east of Young.
Fears the town of 1000 people would come under threat were assuaged when the fire line closest to it was contained.
However, it then changed direction and was threatening properties at Douglas Gap and Campbellfields roads.
In Sydney, which recorded its hottest-ever temperature of 45.8C, a fire broke out in the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park, sending smoke and burning embers across the northern suburbs.
Firefighters were expected to work through the night to protect properties in the area.
Meanwhile, fires in Campbelltown and Marsden Park in the west were contained relatively quickly.
The state's most damaging blaze in the Warrumbungle National Park west of Coonabarabran continued unabated throughout the day, with more than 170 firefighters battling the 46,000-hectare fire.
Also of concern was a fire started by a torched car near Cessnock, in the Hunter region, which caused the evacuation of some residents.
Rain brought some relief to conditions there on Friday night, but it also put paid to firefighters' backburning efforts.
A number of firefighters collapsed as they worked to protect homes from blazes in "furnace-like" conditions.
"We're having fires popping up all over the state," Rural Fire Service (RFS) Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said.
"We've had a number of firefighters collapse with heat exhaustion.
"It's been incredibly hot for them."
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) was predicting a cool change for much of NSW over the weekend, bringing much lower temperatures and a strong chance of rain.
"It's going to bring the fire danger ratings right down," a BoM spokesman said.
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