Batlow and Wondalga residents have been told to leave their homes as the areas "will not be defendable" when the Dunns Road fire hits on Friday.
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The bushfire, which has already burned more than 130,000 hectares, is expected to hit the town on Friday afternoon, as weather conditions deteriorate ahead of the predicted 44-degree maximum and winds on Saturday.
Embers from the fire may land in pine plantations next to the town, near Old Tumbarumba Road, the Rural Fire Service has warned.
To leave, people are being told to travel north towards Wagga, through Adelong, via Batlow Road and Old Tumbarumba Road to access the Hume Highway and then the Sturt Highway.
An emergency evacuation centre has been opened in the multi-purpose centre at Wagga's Equex complex on Copland Street and an emergency operations centre has been established in the city to help co-ordinate the evacuation efforts.
In Batlow, residents were packing their vehicles and leaving on Thursday afternoon, according to Terry Murphy from the town's post office.
"Every man and his dog are packing up and going," he said.
Mr Murphy is also a member of the Volunteer Rescue Association and said he was waiting for everyone else to leave before getting himself out.
"I'm just closing up the post office now," he said about 4pm.
"The supermarket is open today, it's dead quiet though - it's only the staff in the building which is the same as everywhere else."
Aside from the vehicles leaving town, Mr Murphy said the streets are empty.
"Bulldozers can't keep up on the hills burning so there's nothing that can be done, we've all got to go," he said.
Paramedic and deputy mayor of Snowy Valleys Council John Larter said authorities "couldn't have been more forceful" in their advice at a public meeting in urging Batlow residents to leave by 10am on Friday.
"The message was pretty clear: 'You need to get out'," Councillor Larter said.
"I hope people take note of it. Really, if you decide to stay, you may as well ring through your measurements to the funeral director."
As firefighters continued to battle the Dunns Road and Green Valley blazes, Adelong residents were also being encouraged to leave.
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Earlier on Thursday, Snowy Valleys mayor James Hayes appealed for people to leave threatened areas as soon as possible.
"Batlow is in a particularly parlous position, with fires on the western side of it,so if you don't need to be in Batlow, move as soon as you can - and do so in an orderly manner," Cr Hayes said.
"Keep your headlights on, don't drive too fast and try not to panic."
The Mannus Correctional Centre near Tumbarumba was being evacuated on Thursday afternoon and the Batlow hospital was closed and patients moved elsewhere.
Currently, the Tumut hospital remains open.
At Mannus, extra staff were brought in to assist with the evacuation, with all 155 minimum security inmates going to Junee Correctional Centre.
They will remain there as long as necessary for their safety, the spokesperson said.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service on Thursday issued an evacuation notice for Kosciuszko National Park including resorts and all places located within its boundaries.
All people must exit Kosciuszko National Park boundaries before 10am on Friday.
The Dunns Road fire is burning south of the Snowy Mountains Highway in the Ellerslie Range near Kunama, and spot fires that started ahead of the main front earlier in the week have spread, the RFS has warned.
Earlier, the RFS had advised that it would be unable to "guarantee the safety" of Tumbarumba residents.
Householders were being advised to learn and to go before the extreme weather conditions hit on Saturday.
A man who witnessed the bushfire's devastation first-hand has shared some of his thoughts with The Daily Advertiser about the battle to save a house.
"The early grass fires coming from the north east largely against the wind were manageable, but when the wind bought the fire from the north-west at speed, it was devastating," the man, who does not want to be named, said.
"The heat came over like a living thing. The air turned red, and seemed to have no oxygen. That initial heat passed over after a very long few minutes."