Farmer loses crop as lightning sparks multiple fires in Riverina

Rural Fire Service crews from the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area Zone were called to a property at Coleambally on Saturday afternoon.

District coordinator Jason Wall said they found an unharvested crop of 26 hectares well alight.

"There was not much crews could do because it was on an irrigated property," he said.

"In consultation with the property owner, they let it burn to the perimeter and put it out there. It was confirmed to have been ignited a lightning strike."

Inspector Wall said the damage was devastating, but it could have been worse.

RFS crews throughout the regions from multiple districts were kept busy over the weekend as storms and windy weather ignited fires and wreaked havoc.

NSW Rural Fire Service operations officer Bradley Stewart said crews from the Riverina Zone had responded to 18 jobs over the weekend.

Firefighters responded to incidents near Junee, Mangoplah and Rand.

"There has been a lot of lightning in the last few days, and it can strike trees which can catch on fire," Mr Stewart said.

"They can remain undetected for a number of days and come back and bite us.

"We encourage landowners to keep an eye out on their trees and make sure nothing is happening, especially in this sort of weather.

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"If you see anything, call triple zero immediately."

The danger of lightning strikes was made all too clear just two years ago when one sparked the Dunns Road fire, which crews battled for weeks.

The fire initially started near Oberne Creek, south of Tarcutta, when lightning struck days after Christmas.

In its almost two months of active alert, the fire destroyed more than 100 homes and public buildings, threatening towns including Batlow, Tumbarumba, Adelong and neighbouring areas around the Snowy Mountains.

Mr Stewart also urged landowners to maintain any fire breaks they have created to ensure their hard work is not undone.

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