Inspector Bob Conran, of the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Orana team, reports of it seeking to educate offenders through written cautions rather than penalising them.

“On a reasonably regular  basis we have to send caution letters out to landholders who have lit fires without understanding the legislation and the rules around permits and so on,” he said.

“In a lot of cases it is ignorance. They just don’t understand the law or have burned outside conditions of their permit or something like that.

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“The RFS is trying to educate the public by ensuring that anyone who does the wrong thing gets a letter explaining what they’ve done and why they’ve done it wrong, and what they need to do in the future.”

Inspector Conran was speaking as a low-intensity heatwave settled into the Orana fire district which takes in Dubbo, Wellington and Narromine.

“We’re getting into summer conditions now so people need to take precautions they normally would through the fire season,” he said.

The inspector’s suggestions for preventing an outbreak included complying with all the conditions on a permit, not lighting a fire in deteriorating conditions and taking care when using equipment such as a slasher.

“Anything at all that can cause a spark, they just need to be cautious,” he said.

Inspector Conran told of “not a lot of fire activity at the moment”.

He said the first heatwave of the season was mild with temperatures ranging between 34 and 36 degrees Celsius.

“The other thing in our favour is we’ve had rain through October so the curing of the grass is pretty minimal,” Inspector Conran said.

“We’re looking at only 20 to 30 per cent curing around most of Dubbo. It’s pretty green which means ignition is less likely. But as we get into summer and get more of these sorts of days and drier vegetation, things will be very different.” 

As NSW Minister for Emergency Services, state Member for Dubbo Troy Grant has urged residents of the electorate to exercise caution “when it comes to anything that could potentially spark fire”.

“It’s also important that people be careful if they are having barbecues and are around fire,” he said.

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“It doesn’t take much for something to get out of control. We’ve been lucky with some recent rainfall across the region but that doesn’t change the fact that things are still pretty dry.

“If a fire were to break out, given the combination of dry land, an increase in potential fuels and hot weather, it wouldn’t be a good combination.”