Sydney's iconic New Year's Eve fireworks will go ahead after the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) granted organisers an exemption from a total fire ban.

Key points: John Barilaro had said cancelling the Sydney Harbour New Year's Eve fireworks would show respect to firefighters

John Barilaro had said cancelling the Sydney Harbour New Year's Eve fireworks would show respect to firefighters The City of Sydney said funds had already been allocated and cancelling would have had "little practical benefit"

The City of Sydney said funds had already been allocated and cancelling would have had "little practical benefit" The NSW Rural Fire Service made a final decision this afternoon

The RFS this afternoon declared a total fire ban across 11 areas in New South Wales tomorrow, including Greater Sydney, the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, Far South Coast and Southern Ranges.

It said organisers must apply for an exemption to hold their fireworks displays in areas where total fire bans were in place.

The organisers of Sydney's harbour fireworks were granted an exemption and the RFS said it was still assessing whether to allow "a number" of other exemptions.

Parramatta Council has cancelled its popular fireworks display in Parramatta Park after it was refused an exemption due to expected extreme weather conditions.

Parramatta Lord Mayor Bob Dwyer said the decision was made following consultation with the NSW Fire and Rescue and the Bureau of Meteorology.

"Council was not granted an exemption to proceed with its fireworks display, due to the total fire ban in place and a range of associated risks including extreme temperatures, smoke, dust and poor air quality," he said.

"This decision has not been made lightly and council apologises that it will not be able to deliver the popular free event."

Cr Dwyer described conditions in Parramatta Park had been "extremely dry" and a forecast southerly with high winds posed "too big a risk" to the community.

Firework displays across regional areas cancelled or postponed include Wollongong, Maitland, Orange, Berry, Shoalhaven, Huskisson, Armidale, Port Macquarie and Tweed Heads.

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It follows heated debate about whether Sydney Harbour's New Year's Eve fireworks should go ahead amid heightened bushfire risk.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has called for the display to be cancelled due to the risk being "too high".

In a tweet posted on Monday morning, the Minister for Regional NSW, Industry and Trade said it was a "very easy decision" to cancel the event and that doing so would "respect our exhausted RFS volunteers".

"If regional areas have had fireworks banned, then let's not have two classes of citizens," he wrote.

"We're all in this together."

The City of Sydney has maintained that cancelling the event would have "little practical benefit for affected communities".

The event, which costs about $6 million, brings in about $130 million in tourism income and is watched by 1 billion people worldwide, the council said.

"Cancelling the event would seriously hurt Sydney businesses," it said.

Yesterday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the fireworks should go ahead.

The Harbour Bridge has been shrouded in smoke in recent weeks. ( Facebook: Andrew Parkinson )

"If it is safe to do so, we should continue to do it as we have done every other year," she said.

The City of Sydney said more than 100,000 fireworks were set to create a "pyrotechnicolour extravaganza", with 1 million people expected to line the harbour tomorrow night.

"In the event of high winds, we will assess the conditions with fireworks director, Fortunto Foti," the Council said.

The Council has asked people to donate to the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.

It said it had already donated $300,000 to the Red Cross, $300,000 to the Country Women's Association and $20,000 to animal rescue organisation Wires for bushfire relief.