NSW Police have taken legal action against 183 people so far this bushfire season, including charging 24 people with deliberately lighting bushfires.

Since November, police have also taken legal action against 53 people for failing to comply with a total fire ban and against 47 people for discarding a lighted cigarette or match on land.

Legal action ranges from cautioning to laying criminal charges, police said on Monday.

Bushfires have killed 18 people - including three Rural Fire Service volunteers - and millions of animals, destroyed over 1400 homes and burnt through over 4.9 million hectares of land since October.