THE start of the bushfire danger period in the Bathurst area is set to coincide with a hot spell that will bring temperatures not seen since back in mid-March.
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Bathurst is, at this stage, set to hit 30 on Sunday and Monday and 31 on Tuesday after a dry September in which the Bathurst Airport weather station recorded just 17.6 millimetres.
The Rural Fire Service says the bushfire danger period - which will begin on October 1 in Lithgow and Oberon as well as Bathurst - means landowners and land managers are required to obtain a fire permit from their local RFS before lighting any fires, including hazard reduction burns.
Heating up
- Saturday, September 30: 27 degrees.
- Sunday, October 1: 30 degrees.
- Monday, October 2: 30 degrees.
- Tuesday, October 3: 31 degrees.
- Wednesday, October 4: 28 degrees.
"Before you light a fire, it's critical that you check weather conditions are acceptable for safe burning and that you have the necessary precautions and equipment in place," Superintendent John Bennett said.
During the fire danger period, fire permit holders are required to let fire authorities and their neighbours know at least 24 hours before lighting up, he said.
"You must notify your intention to burn by visiting www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/notify or calling your local Fire Control Centre," he said.
Superintendent Bennett said land managers and residents should be doing simple things like creating firebreaks, cleaning gutters, removing combustibles from yards, ensuring hoses can reach all corners of the property and updating and discussing bushfire survival plans.
What a difference a year makes
- September 2022 at the airport: 109.8 millimetres.
- September 2023 at the airport: 17.6 millimetres.
Meanwhile, a hazard reduction burn planned at Portland Common for this week has been postponed.
The RFS said recent rainfall over the area - which had not been predicted - had led to conditions being too wet for the planned prescribed burn.
The RFS says it will "revisit this burn when conditions allow".
A hazard reduction burn was completed at Peel late last month.
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