Australia Weather News

Volunteer bushfire brigades across the south of Western Australia are still on high alert, with dry summer conditions extending well into autumn.

City of Albany chief bushfire control office Rob Lynn said across the Great Southern, figures used to measure soil dryness were about 30 per cent higher than the five-year average.

"Even though the temperatures have gone down, the bush still remains very dry in the soil dryness index figures, really up as high as we've seen all summer," he said.

As a result, the city has extended the prohibited burning period in some areas and the restricted burning period — which requires a permit — in others.

"Extending both restricted and prohibited burning periods is happening more often. Given the dryness that's still out there in the bush and on the land in general at the moment, we're not issuing too many permits either," Mr Lynn said.

"If people consider that we're still in the middle of summer as opposed to getting towards the middle of autumn, then they should be acting accordingly."

'Really, really dry'

One of the 16 volunteer bushfire brigades in the Great Southern is Youngs Siding.

Its captain, Michelle Hollands, said her team was on high alert.

"Everyone's pretty vigilant at the moment, up until we get some proper rain," she said.

"Just in case there is a fire, it will probably be a major one because it is so dry."

Ms Hollands says she is acutely aware of the conditions as she lives on a rural property.

"We've got trees dying on our property that we've never seen before. You can see the ground is really, really dry," Ms Hollands said.

"We need to dry grade our driveway, and we're putting that off until we actually get some rain, just for the fact we don't want to set off any sparks and set the bush on fire."

Longer fire season puts strain on volunteers

Elleker volunteer bushfire brigade captain Maxine Jones, said for her team, the season had stretched in two directions.

"We'd already had two big fires in September and October," she said.

"I did a bit of a stat on the hours that combined members had spent on the fireground and that was 87 hours before the season had even started."

"It does put a strain on the volunteers … not only are they doing their day job, they're also spending hours after their day job on the firegrounds."

Ms Jones said in her six years as captain, she had never had such a demanding fire season.

"In talking to other members, there has been a similar season to this, but it was back in 1969," she said.

"I think this is the start of the new norm. We've had our earliest start and it's going longer."

Bunbury volunteer bushfire brigade captain Terri Kalow echoed this sentiment. 

"The climate is changing, and fire seasons are getting longer, and the volunteers are out there having to do more work than what we have done in the past," she said.

And the season is not over yet.

"Everything's very, very tinder dry. There's still a lot of fuel there and we could still end up with some serious bushfires," Ms Kalow said.

"All it takes is one or two embers to float across from a bonfire or something small and land into somebody's gutters or somebody's air conditioning, and before you know it, somebody's lost their home.

"So be thoughtful before you go doing anything in regard to lighting fires."