Five brigades attended a lightning fire at Lewis Ponds on Sunday which spanned 1.8 hectares. 

Fire crews were alerted to smoke behind Kinross State Forest at about 10.30am on Sunday, but RFS captain Geoff Selwood said trucks took a long part of the morning unable to access the blaze. 

“The problem was trying to locate the darn thing and get fire crews to it,” Mr Selwood said. 

Four Clifton Grove trucks, two from North-West, two from Orange and one from Lucknow all responded the fire, which was eventually located in bushland behind private property on Strathnook Lane. 

Crews had the fire under control by Monday morning, with “mopping up” completed by about midday. 

It was the only major forest fire RFS crews responded to over the weekend, which was a relief to firefighters after RFS Canobolas Zone operations Brett Bowden flagged Australia Day as a potential danger period due to conditions and the threat of lightning storms. 

Conditions are expected to improve this week, with the mercury topping out at 33 degrees on Tuesday, with thunderstorms forecast.

Mr Selwood warned lightning fires smouldering in trees and root systems could catch alight if wind conditions picked up. 

The wind this week will reach above 20 kilometres per hour, nearly reaching 30km/h later on Friday afternoon. 

RFS advise people to keep a close eye on areas struck by lightning over the past week or in coming days and to call triple zero if they see smoke.