Hunter Rural Fire Service reflects region's busy bushfire danger period

Hunter firefighters are glad to see the end of the 2016-17 bushfire danger period.

Severely hot and dry weather conditions, combined with dangerous cases of arson, meant Rural Fire Service crews were kept busier than usual.

The official bushfire danger period ends on Friday, which means conditions should ease for the autumn and winter until the weather begins to warm again in spring.

Several dangerous fires raged during summer, at Abermain, Neath, Kurri Kurri, Port Stephens and in the Upper Hunter.

Some of the blazes passed within metres of homes but, remarkably, none were destroyed.

A catastrophic fire danger rating was declared in the Lower Hunter for two days in February, when the region experienced heat in excess of 45 degrees.

Lower Hunter RFS community safety officer Bert Pipan said the recent fire season was unusual because crews faced threats from relatively small fires that burned close to residential areas – rather than the more common case of larger fires in remote bushland.

He said it had also been a busier than average fire season.

“It’s just interesting how fires start,” Mr Pipan said.

“Leading up to Christmas, there were some lightning strikes, there were suspicious circumstance behind Racecourse [Road fire], then there was Kurri – that guy got arrested. That was only a small fire, the one near the swimming pool, but it came very close to houses and had an impact on population.

"Why were conditions particularly bad this year? They were dry. 

“People refer to it as a green drought, where the top [vegetation] looks green but all the dams were empty and the rivers weren’t running. We were just getting enough rain to green the tops but the fuel was dry.”

The end of the bushfire danger period means people in the Maitland, Dungog, Cessnock and Port Stephens local government areas no longer need permits for controlled fires.

But RFS operational officer Leanne Bell said people should exercise caution and abide by the law when conducting hazard reduction burns.

“Despite these milder conditions, there is always the potential for fires to threaten life, property and the environment, if not managed correctly,” she said.