A man has died in a bushfire burning west of Kempsey on the New South Wales Mid North Coast.

Police found the man's body at the property with his nearby bulldozer destroyed. 

The man has not been formally identified, but he is believed to be the property owner. 

"It's unfortunately a tragic reminder of how deadly some of these fires are," NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Rob Rogers said.

A crime scene has been set up and the investigation into the man's death is beginning.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

'Extraordinary fire behaviour':

Commissioner Rogers said the Willi Willi Road fire was the most concerning of the scores of fires burning in NSW.

He said it had exhibited "Extraordinary fire behaviour and created a lot of instability in the atmosphere".

"There is still a lot of fire and it's still very active," Commissioner Rogers said.

At least one property and a caravan have been lost and there are concerns more properties are at risk.

"There's dozens of homes that are in the path of that fire, Commissioner Rogers said.

"How many of them are really vulnerable, we're not 100% sure."

Kempsey Shire councillor Arthur Bain spent 14 hours fighting the blaze on Monday.

"Many sheds and equipment I saw lost," the RFS volunteer said.

"Some houses were saved in the nick of time, some weren't — we've had very, very close calls for some of the crews."

Cr Bain said he was reminded of Black Summer.

"It created a lot of fear in Willawarrin because it was very similar to what happened in 2019," he said.

"It was a gruelling day and gruelling night."

The fire has burnt through almost 11,000 hectares.

On Monday night it was downgraded from emergency to watch and act level.

Damage assessment underway:

Earlier that evening a late wind change put residents along Toorumbee Road, WIllawarrin, Mungay Flat, Temagog and Toorooka in the path of the fire and they were ordered to evacuate.

The fire remains uncontained and residents are advised to continue monitoring conditions.

RFS crews are assessing the scene from the air this morning to gauge the extent of property loss.

"Helicopters are going to be doing that, also just checking on welfare of people and obviously then making plans to start defending what we can," Commissioner Rogers said.

Conditions are expected to ease over the next several days but the weekend is expected to bring more challenging weather.

"There is no doubt that fire will still be active when we go back into the weekend's warmer weather again," Commissioner Rogers said.

Lower North Coast RFS Superintendent Liz Ferris said residents needed to be aware of the persistent threat.

"Everyone around the perimeter of the fire needs to stay alert," she said.

"It's going to be several days before we can get it fully into control, but today we hope to get the upper hand on it with more favourable conditions, with aviation."

Conditions ease in Central West:

A bushfire north of Mudgee in the state's Central West has been downgraded to advice level amid easing conditions.

The fire at Springwood Park near Cope reached emergency level yesterday afternoon after burning through more than 740ha.

Rural Fire Service spokesperson Angela Burford said there had not been any reports of damage to any homes or structures despite the fire threatening more than 20 rural properties.

At the time of writing there are 77 fires burning in NSW, 29 of which are uncontrolled.

Original Story By | Nick Parmeter, Samantha Aishia & Hamish Cole