Riverina-based members of the Rural Fire Service are on standby as fires rage out of control around Bega and Ulladulla.

As the Riverina volunteers prepared for a possible call-up, there were more than 70 fires burning around NSW, two weeks before the first day of spring.

We know it has been a dry winter and that the whole of NSW is now affected by drought, with the north of the state hit hardest.

How that drought – and the lack of substantial pasture growth during winter – will affect the coming season is yet to be seen, but it would be foolhardy not to be prepared.

Reports coming out of Nowra in recent days have suggested that residents were not only unprepared, but almost a little blase about a winter bushfire.

However, as we now know, the threat was very real and fires have lined the NSW coast.

It was only in March that fires devastated the Tathra community, and now after the briefest of cold weather reprieves, it would seem we need to be ready for an early start to the season.

Australians understand the damage bushfires can do. It’s a danger we live with and yet, as every summer exposes, it’s not a risk for which we are always prepared.

We all pass those bushfire warning signs on the side of the roads and we see the news coverage of fires when they do occur, so there is no excuse not to be aware.

Even for the experts, bushfires can be difficult to predict, so the best any of us can do is be prepared.

It’s time to put all of that advice – from cleaning out our gutters to making bushfire preparation plans – to good use.

Fires are can be devastatingly fast and unpredictable. All it takes to change an under-control situation into a full-blown emergency is a change in wind direction.

We know the risks and we know the worst case scenarios. With bushfires already an issue in August, we cannot afford to remain unprepared.