Fast-moving bushfire tears through NSW as number of homes lost rises

Locals are coming forward to share their harrowing experiences of the devastating bushfires sweeping through NSW including The Central Coast.

A fast-moving fires have torn through regional NSW, with 18 homes now confirmed destroyed during the blaze.

That’s up from 12 homes reported lost on Saturday.

Internet personality Michael Drake shared his experience in the bushfire on his social media platforms, where he used a modified picnic table to head to the water and float away from the fires.

“We were told to evacuate our homes,” the video states.

“The fires were getting close to our home.”

Footage shows the internet personality in a small boat with the fires raging in the background, before a storm swept through and it was almost hit by lightning.

The “boat” was created as part of a previous stunt where the YouTube sensation claimed to have made the world’s first “floating Korean BBQ”, a picnic table which was modified to float and fitted with a barbecue plate.

Footage showed Mr Drake using the device to escape the fires as he floated across the water.

“This is cooked,” he said before cheering on the incoming rain.

“It’s raining, woo!” he said. “It’s bucketing. We made it out of the storm but it is still raining where the fires are”, he said.

Mr Drake was not alone in sharing his experiences.

Other locals have also come forward to share their experiences.

One local, Mark Stringfellow, told 7NEWS he was warned of the devastating fires by a neighbour who lives across the water.

“I went outside and there was a stack of smoke,” he said.

According to the resident he was lucky to survive as a change of direction gave him time to rescue a 90-year-old neighbour from her home before returning to fight the fires in his backyard.

“I was calling triple-0 but unfortunately no fire truck could get up the access road,” he said.

“Once it spread below us I knew there was no stopping it, so that’s when we left.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns confirmed there were more than 75 fires burning across the state and as of Sunday morning 20 remained uncontained.

More than 1500 emergency services personnel, including volunteers, professional firefighters and police worked throughout Saturday night to get these fires under control

Experts fear changing wind conditions could move the fires north into previously unburned areas.