Warning downgraded after houses caught fire

Footage and photographs of the fire show an enormous plume of smoke over the area, visible from the CBD, and an orange glow in the sky.

At the Levande Maybrook retirement home on Jersey Place in Cromer, which houses more than 100 people in three buildings surrounded by bushland, residents have been told to stay at home.

“When the warning came … it was too late to leave,” Levande’s spokesman Dean Felton told the Herald.

He said the facility was well prepared and had implemented its bushfire management plan, with residents either staying in their apartments and closing doors and windows, or gathering at the community centre in the middle of the site, which was designated as a refuge.

Felton said they were told later on Saturday that “the worst was over.”

As darkness fell, flames were still burning behind the Australian Unity retirement home and bungalows in Willandra.

Early Saturday afternoon, RFS media spokesman Inspector Ben Shepherd said the fire was burning towards Cromer Heights and Beacon Hill and was “moving essentially in a southeasterly direction towards Willandra Road under northwesterly winds”.

Shepherd said hundreds of firefighters had been dispatched to fight the fire, with support from firefighting aircraft. He confirmed it was a hazard reduction fire that was “visible from beyond the borders”.

Residents flooded social media with images of the fire, including from their backyards. One woman urged motorists to look at the fire to keep roads clear for firefighters.

Another person said there had been a “constant stream of tourists coming up Lady Penrhyn Drive to see the fire all afternoon” and called the decision “crazy”.

A Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman said they were supporting the RFS with nine emergency vehicles and crews were focusing on protecting property.

Earlier this week, the RFS urged the state's residents to dedicate this weekend to preparing for bushfire season.

Disaster Management Minister Jihad Dib acknowledged that hot and dry weather was expected in the summer.

“After several years of rain and flooding, vegetation has grown rapidly and is now drying out in the warmer weather, increasing the risk of fire,” Dib said.

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