PLEA Network

17 August 2018, The Conversation, drought, wind and heat: when fire seasons start earlier and last longer. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service declared the earliest total fire bans in its history this week. The entire state was declared to be in drought on the same day. The combination of winter drought and hot, dry weather has made dangerous fires increasingly likely. Already this week two fires on the south coast have escaped containment lines and destroyed houses. The weather during these fires was 6℃ warmer than the August average, dry and extremely windy. The wind speed peaked at 104 kilometres an hour in Bega and 85km/h in Nowra, two towns close to where fires broke out. Under these conditions, bushfires will spread quickly, produce large numbers of embers and are hard to stop. Our fire seasons now start earlier and last longer. This means we’re increasingly likely to see repeats of historically large fires threatening residential areas. Fire seasons are longer. Current dry conditions are reflected in the maps of live fuel moisture produced by Dr Rachael Nolan of Western Sydney University. It looks like NSW’s fire season has already started, and it’s likely to be bad. Last year’s fire season also extended well into autumn, with serious bushfires burning in mid-April. Read more here
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