While Christmas Day was, for many, a time to relax and spend with family, it was another day on the job for firefighters as they continued to contain a number of fire fronts around Lithgow.
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Around 60 firefighters worked throughout Christmas Day to strengthen containment lines around Hartley Vale, Capertee and Glen Davis.
In addition, 10 NSW Rural Fire Service [RFS] personnel manned the Lithgow Fire Control Centre to oversee operations.
Lithgow Fire Control Centre public liaison officer Brett Patterson said despite the ongoing fire situation, there was a conceited effort to bring some Christmas cheer for firefighters.
"We ran a skeleton staff on Christmas Day to give many of our firefighters some downtime with their families," Mr Patterson said.
"A special Christmas lunch was put together for those who had to work, which provided some festive relief from a tough period of operations."
As of yesterday, the Gospers Mountain and Grose Valley sat at 'advice' levels, and are in the process of being controlled.
Mr Patterson said the cooler conditions throughout the week have helped firefighters gain the upper hand on the fire fronts.
"The fires aren't an immediate threat to Lithgow and surrounding communities, and we're hoping to have adequate containment lines in place before New Year's Eve."
According to the Bureau of Meterology, daytime temperatures in Lithgow are expected to sit around the mid-30s from today through to Thursday.
In addition, the NSW RFS has a very high fire danger rating in place across the Central Ranges region for the next four days.
"We're not expecting the same conditions we saw last weekend, but we're hoping to get these fires contained as soon as possible," Mr Patterson said.
More than 70 fires continue to burn across NSW, with 33 yet to be contained.
The fire season has burned more than 3.41 million hectares of land statewide.
