A garbage truck carrying recycling material caught on fire around 9:30 am Monday morning before the driving dumped the rubbish in a park on Hillvue Road, South Tamworth.
South Tamworth Fire and Rescue were called to the scene and found a large pile of rubbish alight.
Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the blaze before using thermal imaging to check for hotspots and render the area safe.
Station Officer John Hughes said the truck driver had dumped the load to ensure the truck itself did not catch on fire.
"At this stage, we don't know how the pile of rubbish actually caught alight," Officer Hughes said, "It can often happen by people putting inappropriate things in the rubbish."
Mr Hughes said Tamworth Regional Council has now taken over the clean up and will be removing the pile and taking it to the dump.