Apart from today being the first day of spring, September 1 is also the start of the Bush Fire Danger Period for NSW.

Warm, dry conditions over winter has seen an increase in fire risk following three years of wet weather caused by La Niña. Due to these conditions, 11 of the 32 local government areas will begin their danger period a month earlier which is the same time as Lismore, Ballina, Byron, Richmond Valley, Kyogle, the Tweed and many other LGAs.

Commissioner of the RFS Rob Rogers said, “Wet weather over the last three years has caused prolific growth, and as we move out of this incredibly wet period the bushfire risk is returning to NSW,” Commissioner Rogers said. 

“Fire activity in recent weeks has increased as the landscape dries, forests and grasslands become more susceptible to fires."  

“Since 1 August, firefighters have responded to more than 2,031 bush and grass fires compared to 638 for the same period last year." 

Philip Hyde is a 20-year volunteer firefighter at Caniaba Rural Fire Service. Philip said from today, fire permits kick in, so no one can light a fire without having a permit.

"To get a permit, you can talk to your local brigade or if you don't know who that is, contact the Fire Control Centre (6663 0000) and they will put you in contact with the permit issuing officers for your area."

"They are preparing for this bushfire season to be busy, but there hasn't been any talk that it's going to be overly extreme like we've seen in the last several years."

As a firefighter with over 20 years of experience, Phil's opinion was that the extreme fires we saw in 2019 should not occur this season.

"That was a perfect storm and is something that we shouldn't see for a long time because there hasn't been enough time between the big bushfires to allow a strong fuel load on the ground."

While there may not be catastrophic fires this season, fire mitigation crews have been working to reduce the risk.

"Every zone has what's called a fire mitigation crew, so they're actually firefighters that are paid to do mitigation work. So, if there are fire trails that need to be updated, or if there's potentially big hazard reduction burns that are going on, the mitigation crew for each zone will either clear tracks or they will do the preparation work to clear everything in preparation for hazard reduction to go on."

If you have travelled west recently, you may have seen smoke as crews perform hazard reduction burns in state forests and national parks in preparation for a dry summer.

"Casinos got a lot of state forestry and national parks where they seem to do a lot more hazard reductions and sort of west of Kyogle," Phil said, "When you come east of that, we don't have any heavy foliage in that regard. They did do one over the weekend down Ellangowan way. There were about six crews who went down to do a hazard reduction burn down there."

If you live on a property at risk of bushfires, Philip had these tips.

"If you live in an area where you're prone to grass fires or bushfires, or even if you're in an area where you've just got a lot of thick grass that's growing, spend some time to clear it. Fires can't spread on bare dirt, and they can't spread on grass that's two centimetres high because it's been freshly mowed or constantly mowed. But if you've got grass that's half a metre to a metre tall all around your house, it's an accident waiting to happen. You need to prepare your property and your house in the event that someone potentially does something like a cigarette butt is thrown out of the window."

The most common cause of fires is lightning strikes followed by arson or suspicious causes. Another lesser cause is people performing their own hazard-reduction burns.

"People that are doing hazard reductions sometimes haven't read the weather conditions right or haven't fully prepared the area they want to burn off correctly, and it's gotten away on them."

This is why, from today, fire permits are needed in case something goes wrong.

"If you want to do a hazard reduction, a pile burn or any type of live naked fire burn on your property you must get a fire permit, even a bonfire needs a permit. It is not exempt. There's only one thing that is exempt, which is a wood-fueled BBQ, and even that on total fire bans is not allowed, and that's about it. Everything else requires a permit. It's just a blanket rule. There are some quite serious penalties coming into effect now if you don't adhere to those."