Residents are being urged to respond to grassfires and bushfires in a timely manner as summer progresses.
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NSW Rural Fire Service operations officer Bradley Stewart said the 2021 bushfire season isn't posing as a greater risk than to that of previous years, however, residents should still be prepared to act.
"It's consistent with previous years," he said.
Mr Stewart said between the RFS and Fire and Rescue NSW there have been 31 fires since the commencement of the bushfire season, November 1.
"The majority, 23, have been grassfires- the remainder have been small bushfires of which had been the direct result of lightning, followed by machinery such as harvesting operations," he said.
Locally, there have been 10 fires.
"We did experience on December 18, a significant lightning band go through, so a lot of those [10] fires can be attributed to trees that were struck by lightning that went undetected for a few days," he said.
"Then when the fire broke through it was able to start a fire on the surrounding grass."
Mr Stewart said a tree struck by lightning can go undetected for anywhere up to a week if not longer.
As we head into the heart of summer and the temperature is set to rise in coming days, concerns of higher fire danger ratings surfaced, however, Mr Stewart said the two aren't always linked.
"Fire danger ratings for our area are determined on a number of variables which include the fuel loading- so how much grass there is, what we call the curing, so how dry that grass is as well as the wind, the temperature and the relative humidity," he said.
"If you've got very dry grass, hot temperatures, high fuel loads, low humidity and strong winds, we will have a fire danger rating that is elevated, so very high, severe and extreme, depending on how strong those variables are."
Fortunately, Mr Stewart said increased rainfall across the Riverina means the landscape isn't as dry as it "normally would be".
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"The level of curing for this area is at about 70 per cent, so 30 per cent of the grass is green," he said.
"That is resulting in lower than usual fire ratings being issued for the area and what we're seeing is the winds aren't as strong as what we would see sometimes during this time of year.
"So whilst the temp is high the risk of fire isn't necessarily there."
Mr Stewart said that's not to say, residents, particularly those working and living on farms and paddocks, should not be prepared or slow to respond.
" Some people are reluctant to call the brigade in the first instance, if they want to see a quick and rapid response they should in the first instance call triple zero," he said.
"That will enable us to give the best response.
"Be mindful of your activities, if you're working with machinery on the land make sure you have adequate fire protection in place so if you start a fire you can extinguish it or at least slow it down.
"Make sure firebreaks are well maintained and make sure you have some sort of plan in place for your family so you know what you're going to do if a fire does break out."
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