Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) is exhausting all efforts to protect communities from their most significant grass fire risk in more than a decade.
Two years of above-average rainfall has increased fuel loads, meaning any grass fire which breaks out over coming weeks has the potential to be larger and more intense than normal. This is particularly the case in the state’s west, which bore the brunt of the most recent floods.
opportunity for hazard reduction operations
FRNSW is continuing its focus on where the city meets the bush, implementing measures which protect homes, businesses and critical infrastructure on the urban-rural interface.
In the last fortnight, FRNSW firefighters conducted a hazard reduction burn in a fire-prone 28-hectare area of Glendale, Lake Macquarie. Their careful efforts have helped safeguard dozens of homes, a school and the local TAFE campus, which border upon a highly combustible woodland area.
While months of wet weather has significantly impacted planned fire mitigation efforts, FRNSW is making the most of every opportunity for hazard reduction operations.
Firefighters’ lead and take precautions
FRNSW Bushfire & Aviation Commander, Scott Donohoe is urging homeowners and landholders to follow firefighters’ lead and take precautions now.
“It could only take a few days or weeks of hot and dry weather to ignite current heavy fuel loads and create a fire emergency in our own backyards,” said Superintendent Donohoe, adding “We can’t control what the weather does but we can all take steps to protect ourselves, our families and our property from the potential impacts of fire.”
New fire danger ratings
Households are urged to prepare their Bushfire Survival Plan and discuss what they would do if a bushfire threatened their home.
Farmers should also establish firebreaks around paddocks, homes, sheds and equipment, to slow a fire’s spread. All residents should familiarize themselves with the new fire danger ratings, which have been developed and implemented for the current season.