Along with the heroic efforts of the firefighters and emergency services personnel who helped keep our town safe, many people volunteered their time or donated items to assist the cause.

An evacuation centre was set up at Cessnock Toyota Stadium on Saturday afternoon – and more volunteers turned up than people who needed assistance.

The stadium’s general manager Brett Keeble was in Port Macquarie for a basketball carnival, but contacted venue supervisor Sonia Hafey to see if she could open the stadium as an evacuation centre.

“Being away from the fire front, smoke, and the traffic flow of emergency vehicles, we thought we were in a good location,” Mr Keeble said.

“Once the word got around that we were open, we were inundated with donations of water, soft drinks and food.”

“True community spirit was alive and well in Cessnock,” Ms Hafey added.

What wasn’t used has been donated to the Salvation Army Cessnock so they can distribute it to the people still affected, or to emergency services personnel still fighting fires and volunteering.

Mr Keeble said the centre would be happy to open its doors again if a similar situation arises.

Cessnock Mayor Bob Pynsent thanked everyone involved in keeping the community safe over the weekend as fires broke out across the local government area.

“It was a challenging couple of days for the entire community as a number of blazes ignited forcing some residents to evacuate their homes,” Cr Pynsent said.

“Firefighters worked hard on Saturday to ensure all of our residents were able to return to their properties safely.

“A huge thank you to the Rural Fire Service and all the Emergency Services for their tireless work, in the face of tough conditions, especially on Racecourse Road.

Cr Pynsent thanked all of the volunteers and local businesses who went “above and beyond” to help the firefighters and residents impacted by the fire, including the Salvation Army and Cessnock Toyota Stadium.

Cr Pynsent reminded Cessnock residents are reminded to have a bush fire survival plan in place and to stay informed about how to best prepare for a fire emergency.

Cessnock East Public School has also shown its gratitude for the firefighters with the following message:

The teachers, students and families of Cessnock East Public School would like to sincerely thank our local Rural Fire Service men and women, volunteers and emergency service workers for all of their work in protecting us from the recent fire.

We have numerous families who were personally affected in some way by this event and your courage and dedication during this time sets a fantastic example to our students of what it takes to be a true hero of our community.

The Advertiser is inviting readers to post their thank you messages by filling in the form below. Please note messages do not appear instantly online, but we will do our best to post every message in a timely manner.