Dubbo-based Orana fire district boss warns of 'wall-to-wall fuel'

Manager of the Orana team of the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) Lyndon Wieland said the fire in the Mid Lachlan Valley fire district on Monday “spread very very quickly” through the unharvested wheat.

The incident has prompted Superintendent Wieland to draw attention to a document released by NSW Farmers.

It can be found on the websites of NSW Farmers and the NSW RFS 

“It recommends when to harvest and when not to harvest depending on the wind, the temperature, humidity on the day and so forth,” Superintendent Wieland said.

The Orana fire district of about 12,800 square kilometres includes the two local government areas taking in Narromine, and Dubbo and Wellington.

“We have a lot of headers working in cereal crops, particularly to the west of Dubbo, and that is slowly working back into Dubbo and down to the Wellington area,” Superintendent Wieland said.

“While ever you have got machinery working in cereal stubble there’s the possibility of an accidental ignition point.”

Superintendent Wieland said there was “wall-to-wall fuel” in the Orana fire district.

He said in the absence of rain “everything is rapidly curing” to the point that a puff of wind could fan a fire.

In the past couple of weeks, Orana volunteer firefighters have attended a Narromine fire started by a slasher.

“It burned probably four hectares and got into some scrubby country and caused a lot of work there for a few hours for the volunteers,” Superintendent Wieland said.

On Monday a lightning strike at Euchareena ignited a fire in scrub land.

“We had volunteers wrap that up within three hours. It’s still a little bit greener there than Dubbo and further west,” Superintendent Wieland said.

At 9am on Wednesday Dubbo had received 34 millimetres (mm) of rain this month, including 26.4mm in the 24-hour period to 9am November 12. Average rainfall for Dubbo during November is 62.8mm.