THE NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) hopes that the reminders of last year's bushfire season will lead people to take extra precautions this year to limit the risk of blazes.
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Last year saw unusually intense fires blazing across Australia, burning 18.6 million hectares and destroying more than 5000 buildings.
Sadly, 33 people were killed, including multiple firefighters.
READ ALSO: Bushfires royal commission findings released
The drought conditions in eastern Australia were a contributor to the bushfire crisis.
This year, the Bathurst region has seen a significant increase in rain, seeing the dam reach capacity and the landscape looking much greener.
But RFS operations officer Brett Taylor, of the Chifley/Lithgow Team, doesn't think that will make many residents complacent.
"I believe last year's fire season is certainly going to be in everyone's mind, certainly around the bush areas, but maybe around the grass area they may get a little bit complacent because it is so green," he said.
"But the incident that we had happen [on Tuesday] confirms that even if it does look green on the top, underneath it is very dry and is starting to hay off, and it doesn't take much for it to start a fire."
On Tuesday afternoon, local RFS crews were called to respond to a grass fire at Evans Plains.
The fire burned through five hectares, but crews were able to get the blaze extinguished in an hour.
Mr Taylor said the fire occurred while the property owner was mowing.
He encouraged people to take actions on their properties to limit the risk of fire.
"Maintain that asset protection zone around your property, making sure it's clear and tidy, make sure your gutters are clean," he said.
Mr Taylor also said people needed to think carefully about machinery use.
"If you do need to do any works that involve machinery, do them either in the morning or afternoon, or when it's a cool day," he said. "Doing those kind of works at the right time of day is very important."
People are also encouraged to have their own firefighting equipment nearby so they can respond immediately if a fire starts.
This is important, as it could take a while for firefighters to arrive.
"All of our people in the RFS are all volunteers and they have day jobs or night jobs, so some of them can be five, 10, 15 minutes away from the station to start with; they've got to drive back to the station first, then get their gear together and drive out in the truck," Mr Taylor said.
"People who are in rural area, as part of their own practise, need to have some of their own firefighting equipment as well, as it does take a bit of time to get there sometimes.
"Depending on how big the fire is, we can't guarantee to have a fire truck at every house, as there's only so many appliances out there and there's a lot of property out there. You can't have that assumption that there's going to be a fire truck there in five minutes."
Mr Taylor said if anyone has any questions about preparing their properties, they can call the RFS for advice or have an assessment done.
