As the Lake Cathie community processes the devastating bushfire which ripped through the town, one resident is urging a discussion around fire management.

Cara Dale has lived in Lake Cathie for the last 15 years.

She loves the town fiercely.

And she is in awe of the firefighters who have worked tirelessly over the last couple of days to protect the town.

"They have been amazing," Mrs Dale said.

The Crestwood-Lake Cathie fire has threatened homes this week. The fire is listed currently at Advice level with the fire zone close to 2600 hectares.

There have been inspirational stories of survival.

Mrs Dale said while it is remarkable no homes have been lost, in the months ahead the community needs to talk about fire management.

"As our population grows we need better fire management," Mrs Dale said.

"Lake Cathie is surrounded by bush.

"We have a huge amount of fuel load in the bush."

Mrs Dale said the issue at hand is "poor fire management mitigation in residential areas".

"In Sydney because they have the population they do fire mitigation, there is a process," she said.

"National Parks do control backburning around residential areas and because they have major population they have better management.

"From the moment we moved to Lake Cathie we have been worried about the bush.

"We have huge amounts of fuel load in our forest.

"You have 25 years of leaf litter.

"The issue is that we really have had no major hazard reduction in 15-25 years in Lake Cathie."

Mrs Dale urged government, residents, National Parks and Wildlife and the RFS to come together post-fire and discuss fire management in the area.

She paid tribute to firefighters to have "done everything they can to protect property and lives".

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