Concerns for a severe 2013/14 bushfire season are growing as record warm temperatures continue to plague winter.
The Narrabri Bushfire Management Committee will decide within the next week whether to start the Bushfire Danger Period a month early on September 1.
This will mean that landholders will require permits to conduct burns, and permits can be suspended on total fire ban days.
Rural Fire Service (RFS) Inspector Brett Loughlin said the record warm temperatures experienced in July and lack of rainfall posed a serious bushfire risk for summer.
“We have a lot of concerns that it’s been one of the hottest and driest winters on record, which means the threat of fires will occur much earlier than usual,” he explained.
“We’ll be on very high alert.”
Several major bushfires broke out across NSW last summer, with some taking weeks and requiring masses of resources to combat.
Inspector Loughlin urges property owners not to be complacent as temperatures continue to rise.
“It’s now getting to the point where it’s too hot to burn piles of timber during the day,” he said.
“We strongly urge that people burn overnight as the cooler conditions dramatically reduce the chance of these fires escaping.
“We urge people not to burn when winds are 20km/h or above, and to have fire breaks around burns and private fire fighting resources on hand.
“There will be harsh penalties for people whose burns escape, particularly where they damage neighbours’ properties.”
The devastation inflicted on landowners near Coonabarabran earlier this year is still being felt.
“The risk of a Coonabarabran-type event occurring in the Narrabri area is of course high,” Inspector Loughlin said.
“We have similar vegetation and terrain, and we have large numbers of properties in heavily timbered areas, including some that border national parks and state forest areas.”
The RFS has been preparing for the approaching bushfire season by inspecting and servicing vehicles and equipment, upskilling volunteer firefighters and organising hazard reduction burns.
New rain water tanks donated by Santos have been installed at Narrabri Airport, which will be used to reload water bombers during aerial firefighting campaigns.
“With the hundreds of thousands of litres that we now have stored at the airport, it will mean we’re much more self-sufficient without having to rely on bulk water carriers,” Inspector Loughlin said.
A new category one fire tanker is also in service at the Narrabri Headquarters brigade, and a new fire station has been commissioned at Wee Waa for the Myall Vale brigade.
Hazard reduction burns planned for August will see vegetation culled along Kelvin Vickery Avenue and near the Shell 24-hour service station in a joint operation by the RFS and Fire and Rescue NSW on August 25.
“The joint exercise will be an opportunity for both fire services to compare equipment, familiarise with operating procedures and ensure that our high standards of inter-operability are maintained,” Inspector Loughlin said.
A burn is also scheduled to lower vegetation at the CSIRO Australia Telescope.
Local residents are reminded to take heed of the RFS message that planning to plan isn’t planning.
“Because on the day when the fire is rapidly bearing down on a property, it’s far too late to be thinking ‘where should we go, what should we take’,” Inspector Loughlin said.
“People who fail to plan are really putting their lives at risk.”
He encourages people to download a bushfire survival plan off the internet or collect one from the Narrabri Fire Control Centre, adding that the RFS is happy to give advice.
“If anyone doesn’t think this is necessary, they only have to look down to Coonabarabran to see the ferocity of the fires that could occur in this region,” he added.
The RFS is always on the look out for new members willing to undertake a variety of roles.