According to the Bureau of Meteorology the mercury will hit 34 degrees in Orange on Friday, just shy of the all-time mark for December of 34.7 degrees, recorded in 2009.

With temperatures tipped to remain in the mid-30s for the rest of the week – and beyond 40 degrees in other parts of the Central West – NSW Rural Fire Service crews are closely monitoring conditions.

In February this year two massive blazes – one on Mount Canobolas and the other near Gowan, about 30 kilometres north-east of Orange – burnt out in excess of 2900 hectares of bushland.

NSW RFS Canobolas Zone membership services co-ordinator Nils Waite said similar areas in the Canobolas Zone were the greatest concern.

“The forested areas are the worst for us,” he said.

“It’s going to be hot and dry for the next week, and we’ve just been fortunate that we’ve had a couple of rain events leading up to Christmas.”

Despite the rain, he urged people to be mindful of activities that could inadvertently start a fire.

Primary producers have been directed to only conduct “farming practices” in the early morning or very late afternoon.

“If they’re going to be doing any slashing, or anything that can create sparks, do it very early or very late when the conditions are milder,” Mr Waite said.

For people who are going camping during the festive period, he said some fires could be lit, but only under strict conditions.

“They can have cooking fires but only on days where there’s no TOBAN [total fire ban]. On fire ban days only a gas or electric fire will be allowed,” he said.

No fire permits will be granted for people in the Canobolas Zone during the Christmas-New Year period.

Mr Waite thanked the public for their vigilance so far during the bushfire season.

“Thus far the public has been very good and very careful and we’d like them to continue doing that,” he said.