Thirty million litres of water is about to flood the Lindfield Park Road bushfire.
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The Rural Fire Service took the unusual step to utilise reclaimed water after the bushfire, which first started on July 18, had continued to burn.
It has continued to flare up off the back of high winds and rising temperatures, despite the best efforts of RFS volunteers and staff along with Fire and Rescue NSW.
It has been repeatedly targeted by air water bombers.
Thick smoke has often blanketed the area surrounding the fire with the Oxley Highway and Hastings River Drive closed at various times since the fire first took hold.
The final 300 metres of the 2.4 kilometre pipeline were finally put in place on Monday. Work to roll out the pipeline commenced on August 27.
The pipe will direct 30 megalitres of water over 50 days onto the fire ground and drown the peat burning underground.
Favourable weather conditions over the weekend allowed fire crews from NSWRFS, NPWS and Forestry Corporation to gain the upper hand on a number of fires burning across the Mid Coast and Port Macquarie-Hastings local government areas.
RFS spokesperson Stuart Robb said there are now five fires (one being controlled, four under control) burning across the district, down from the 14 fires we had last Friday.
"The Lindfield Park Road fire had a couple of flare ups over the weekend that were quickly dealt with by ground crews supported by water bombing aircraft," he said.
"The wetland rehydration project is almost complete and it is expected that water will start flowing Monday afternoon once the last 300 metres of hose line is completed.
"Residents should see an increase in air quality over the coming weeks.
"There is no significant rain forecast for September, we can expect to see a continuation of warm and dry conditions increasing the risk of fires starting.
"This is a timely reminder for residents across the Mid-North Coast to discuss with their families what to do if bush fire threatens their home ensure their home is prepared and how they will stay up to date with the bush fire alert levels and current conditions.
How much water is 30 million litres?
One megalitre of water is equal to one million litres.
An Olympic swimming pool holds around 2.5 megalitres of water - that would equate to about 12 Olympic swimming pools of water flooding the Lindfield Park Road fire.
If a typical cup contains 250ml, that's about 120 million cups of water.
A typical bucket holds 10 litres of water. There's about 100,000 buckets in one megalitre or about 3 million buckets of water.
It's also about 150,000 baths.
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