Residents received an emergency text from the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) at around 1pm on Tuesday warning them of the impending fire danger.

Nabiac butcher Gordon Griffis of Griffo's Gourmet Meats described the change that came over the town once people received the alert.

"Business was flat-strap until all hell broke loose," he said.

"It was like an aura and everyone went 'boof' when the word came through.

"I've never seen shops shut so quick."

He said a lot of people headed to the Nabiac Oval, which was the designated evacuation point.

Nabiac resident Carol Kranz was one of the people who sought shelter there and she described the scene as tense.

"People were worried," she said.

"There probably would've been about 100 people there in the afternoon."

Nabiac Hotel publican Matt Morris said there were numerous RFS personnel on the ground in the area.

"When the RFS came through and said get ready that was a worry," he said.

However, a sense of calm came over the town when the wind swung to the south later in the afternoon and it looked like the town would be spared, Mr Morris said.

"At about 3pm the wind changed and it all went that way (north). Everybody calmed down a bit."

RFS deputy incident controller Julian Armstrong said there were a number of factors that played into Nabiac's favour yesterday.

Chief among these was the fact the predicted nor-westerly winds didn't pick up to the speeds that were expected.

He said this was due to the thick smoke blanketing the area, which kept the winds higher in the air and didn't allow them to influence the fire conditions on the ground as strongly as they otherwise would've.

"It was quite unusual," he said.

"I've never come across it before."

Related:

Despite variations in the wind throughout the afternoon, Mr Armstrong said the full brunt of the southerly didn't hit the area until after 10pm, which kept the fire activity concentrated four or five kilometres north of Nabiac, around Failford.

Considering the forecast, he said the outcome had been very favourable for towns east of the Pacific Highway yesterday, with no homes lost.

"At the start of the day we didn't think we'd have a chance of stopping anything because the forecast was so bad."

However, he said there were still some pockets of active fire north of Nabiac.

Currently, Nabiac is experiencing mobile network outages due to there being no mains power at the Nabiac tower.

Mr Morris said this was having a significant impact on the town, with businesses unable to use eftpos and residents unable to access the Fires Near Me app.

Telstra is yet to provide a time frame as to when the issue will be resolved.

Stay ahead with local news by signing up for the Great Lakes Advocate newsletter here.