The threat of another early fire season in NSW has prompted the Rural Fire Service to bring forward its bushfire danger period for a large part of the state.
Eight northern regions typically start their danger period at the beginning of August but, this year, the RFS has added 14 more local government areas, from Byron down to Kempsey and beyond, to account for the increased fire risk.
Sydney, meanwhile, had its warmest July day since 1990, with the mercury climbing to 25 degrees - almost 9 degrees above average.
On a warm, windy day, the RFS reported 84 bush, grass and scrub fires across the state. By late Thursday afternoon, fire crews were working on 45 fires, 19 of them uncontained, said Natalie Sanders, an RFS spokeswoman.
“Across the north of the state we have already seen windy and dry conditions leading to difficult fires,” RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.
“In early July, we saw 167 bush and grass fires in just four days. A number of these were on the mid-north coast where one shed was destroyed in a fire at Bonny Hills and another [fire] burnt some 868 hectares at Great Lakes.”
Thursday's fires included a blaze in Castlereagh near Penrith, while the Monaro Highway was also briefly cut in both directions 11 kms north of Cooma.
The Illawarra/Shoalhaven area had a "very high fire danger" rating for the day.
12th driest for NSW
The Bureau of Meteorology said this month had been the 12th driest July on record for the state, with many areas receiving as little as one-fifth of their normal rain.
The past month also extended the relatively dry conditions that have set in over northern parts of NSW and much of Queensland during the past year or longer, said Agata Imielska, senior climatologist at the bureau.
The warm and dry conditions extend to Sydney, which recorded its driest July since 1995.
The city has also posted another milder-than-average month, including record warmth to end July.
The past three days have all been above 23 degrees for the first time, setting up the fourth “warm wave” in the past three months. The mercury recently touched 25 degrees - only the sixth July day in 155 years of records to reach that mark.
Fire risks
At the start of August, the local government areas of Armidale Dumaresq, Guyra, Glen Innes Severn, Inverell, Tenterfield, Uralla, and Walcha typically begin their fire danger periods.
This year, the areas of Bellingen, Ballina, Byron, Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Gloucester, Great Lakes, Greater Taree, Kempsey, Kyogle, Lismore, Nambucca, Port Macquarie Hastings, Richmond Valley and Tweed have been added.
The early fire season declaration - up to two months ahead of the "statutory" period - comes as the government introduced new laws on Thursday allowing residents in bushfire-prone areas to clear vegetation near their homes to minimise danger.
“The new laws allow people in the designated areas to remove trees within 10 metres of their home, and clear vegetation other than trees within 50 metres of their home, provided they comply with the NSW RFS Code of Practice,” said Stuart Ayres, Minister for Police and Emergency Services.
Ms Sanders of the RFS said residents should visit the agency's website to check they live in an "entitlement area" before commencing clearing activities. They should also consider indigenous cultural issues and whether clearing on slopes could make them less stable, risking landslides and rock falls.
For areas declared to be entering their fire danger periods, “people need to have hazard-reduction certificates, and talk to their local fire authorities before doing any fire reduction activities”, Ms Sanders said.
The early start to the danger period was prompted by the onset of dry, windy conditions.
“What we’re looking at is quite dry fuel up there,” Ms Sanders said, referring to northern parts of NSW.
“It has certainly been warmer than average over the last little while, and that’s predicted to continue,” she said, noting the bureau was predicting warmer and drier than normal conditions for most of the state to extend well into spring.
Spring-like conditions
Apart from maximum temperatures being more comparable to late spring than mid-winter, the weather patterns are also taking on a spring-like appearance, Ms Imielska said.
“We tend to get these very strong temperature gradients, with very cold air coming from the south but also warm air from the north,” she said.
“You get these really warm winds ahead of a cold front and then cold winds right after it.”
Such a pattern is expected over the next few days with Friday’s top for Sydney expected to drop to a relatively chilly 18 degrees with similar days to next Tuesday. Overnight temperatures will also dive to about 7-8 degrees from Saturday until at least Thursday, the bureau said.
However, little rain is expected for NSW from the cold front.
Sydney’s start to 2014 has been its hottest on record. Even before the past three days of exceptional warmth, mean temperatures for the city were already running comfortably ahead of the previous record, Ms Imielska said.
Our chopper is over the grass fire at Jamisontown. LIVE Stream here: http://t.co/N9WMAc1ruE #9News pic.twitter.com/N3KB3vMD5P — Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) July 31, 2014
As of Monday, mean temperatures were 1.02 degrees above the long-term average for the city during the January-July period, easily eclipsing the 0.92-degree anomaly set in 1991, Ms Imielska said.
Clarification: an earlier version of this article had July as the 10th driest July on record for NSW; amended bureau figures placed the ranking as 12th.
