With the full impact of this season's bushfires still revealing itself, debate continues over whether Wagga is as prepared as it can be to manage fire risks closer to home.
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Wagga woman Catherine Pierce is among those who are concerned patches of untamed vegetation across the city could pose a threat to their properties.
Mrs Pierce is concerned an overgrown nature strip along Vincent Road, with dead trees lying among long grass, has not been effectively maintained.
"This has been building up over a period of quite a few years ... it's a big fire risk" Mrs Pierce said.
"It only takes a passenger to throw a cigarette out the window and it'll go.
"The embers, depending on where the wind was going, would reach my house."
Mrs Pierce said there were many sites across Wagga that required more clearing, but this was the worst she had seen.
"It'd only take a day for the council to clean it up, surely," she said.
"It's ridiculous with the fires we've had."
Riverina RFS operational manager Bradley Stewart said the RFS was working in conjunction with the council and other fire services to undertake fuel management across Wagga using several different strategies.
Mr Stewart said the RFS allocates asset protection zones, which are "heavily reduced fuel areas" some six to 10 metres wide, around assets and where vegetation is close to residential areas, such as along the perimeter of Willans Hill.
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Throughout the city, he said the priority was making sure there were no continuous stretches of ground covered in a thick layer of fine fuels, like leaves and grasses, which allow a fire to spread quickly.
Mr Stewart said anyone concerned about a fire hazard in their area could report it to the Wagga council or the RFS on its website.
He also encouraged the community to think about ways to protect their own properties in the case of an ember attack, with about 97 per cent of Wagga's land privately owned and not the domain of the RFS.
Wagga Urban Landcare Group president Edward Maher said with enough resources, he believed the community could balance the priority of safety with the amenities natural land provided to the community and its benefit to the local ecosystem.
"With the right technology and the right conditions, my understanding is there are ways and means to do it," he said.
