Firefighters are at work to control a bushfire near Newcastle which has burnt 1,381 hectares of land and which was moving  east along Cabbage Tree Road towards Newcastle Airport yesterday afternoon, Sydney Morning Herald reported. 
The NSW Rural Fire Service issued an emergency warning yesterday for the bushfire in the Tomago and Williamtown areas, with affected residents being advised to shelter in place as they were told it was too late to leave. 
Just before 3pm the fire had reached Barrie Close in Williamtown, west of Newcastle Airport. 
 By late afternoon a strong southerly had change moved across the area, causing the blaze to move north, away from Cabbage Tree Road and towards Richardson Road. 
Conditions continued to ease over the evening and the alert level was downgraded to “advice” level, with firefighters to remain on scene overnight.
Residents in Barrie Close, Cabbage Tree Road, Massonite Road, Williamtown Drive, Technology Place, Kindler Way, Cresswell Way, Slades Road, Sandeman Street and Moxey Close, Benjamin Lee Drive, and Richardson Road should continue to monitor the situation and listen to advice from firefighters on the ground.