It has been a hot weekend, and the worst possible weather for preventing and fighting fires. Hot temperatures lightning strikes and wind combined to create terrible conditions.

In NSW, dozens of people were evacuated from the state's central west towns of Rylstone and Kandos. One Rylstone house was destroyed in the fires.

There was a total of 79 fires in NSW yesterday, including 13 major fires, with temperatures topping 42.5 degrees celsius.

Read more about yesterday's fires in NSW at The Australian.

Thankfully, with the cool change moving through NSW today, there has been relief for fire fighters, who are still fighting fires across the state. Read more about the latest fire updates from NSW on ABC online.

In Queensland, temperatures have not cooled, and are hovering in the mid 30's. As such, there are many fire bans in place today, with one large grass fire being fought west of Brisbane. More details are available at smh.com.au

Meanwhile, in Tasmania, the state's Chief Fire Officer has confirmed that well prepared properties will be treated as a priority and defended first in the face of a major bushfire. Read more on ABC Local.

All this news comes as today in Melbourne, an expert has warned that people will start to become complacent about fire danger warnings if they are used too often.

From ABC Melbourne:

He says just basing fire warnings on weather conditions alone is not enough.

"We're going to have quite a few days that will be classified as catastrophic where we won't necessarily have that level of threat, because we may not have the population present in that area, the topography might be flatter than what's been considered."

The Real Insurance website Real Safety Tips section contains helpful tips for what to do in the event of a fire.

Or you could read about the fire cover offered by Real Insurance as part of our home insurance and contents insurance products.

Return to the Real Insurance homepage at http://www.realinsurance.com.au