Just north of Berowra, it’s all hands on deck at the North Shore’s Rural Fire Service command centre.  

Dan Meijer, the centre’s manager, says his crew has been working tirelessly for the last month. He leads around a thousand volunteers across the North Shore’s twenty brigades, currently performing hazard reduction burns.

The conditions right now are simply too good to waste, and with summer approaching they will need all the preparation time they can get. 

Chain of command: Fire Control Centres are the command centre for Rural Fire Service districts, of which there are 44 in New South Wales. Two of these — Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai — cover the North Shore, and share a command centre in Berowra. 

In the past month, the Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai brigades have conducted six hazard reduction burns — some small and focused, others spanning as much as 300 hectares — in order to reduce fuel loads ahead of summer. 

What is that: Hazard reduction burns help lower bushfire risk by clearing out grass, leaf litter, twigs and branches covering the floor of bushland with a controlled burn.

Broken records: This year, Sydney recorded its warmest winter on record. While perhaps an ominous forecast of the summer to come, it also means an increased fuel load. 

“Theres always a build up of fuel in the environment, but it's largely based on weather conditions” Meijer said, pointing to the dense bushland along Cowan Creek.

“So if we have a warm and damp winter, you’ll get growth. Which means there will be more dead vegetation in the summer time”. 

The struggle for fire services is finding the right conditions for hazard reduction burns. “It’s a very fine line,” Meijer said. “It can’t be too damp, it can’t be too dry”.

Community effort: Part of preparation is also community outreach. The district has been speaking to homeowners on the urban fringe about what can be done to lower risk — like the clearing of leaves from gutters — and what should be done if a bushfire reaches their area.

This Saturday, brigades across NSW will be opening their doors and heading out to village hub areas as part of a statewide effort to increase awareness of bushfire safety. 

Events will be held at Hornsby Mall and the St Ives Village Green (as part of the larger St Ives Food & Wine Festival). Locals will be able to check out RFS trucks and equipment and chat to volunteers about preparing their homes for bush fire season.

Bushfire season approaches: As Sydney records its highest winter temperatures on record, is there a feeling of dread among firies? Absolutely, Meijer said. But that’s the nature of the service. 

“Volunteers and firefighters in general are always prepared for the worst,” he said. “It’s why we’re here”. 

The service tries to be even-handed in its public messaging, not wanting to spread fear about a looming bushfire season, or encourage an attitude of “it can’t happen here”. 

Because, of course, it has happened here. 

One of the most significant recent bushfires was December 2002, when a blaze tore through North-western Sydney toward Hornsby, Thornleigh and Berowra. The fires saw train lines stopped and the Pacific Highway closed at Wahroonga.

What now: The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast above average temperatures for most of Australia in the coming months. Our climate cycle is also in an El Niño phase, which often brings drier conditions to central and eastern Australia. According to the CSIRO, climate change is fuelling stronger El Niño events, more often.

For Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai, the RFS is predicting an average fire season: neither particularly extreme nor mild. The high risk areas in NSW are concentrated around the north west of the state and the far south coast. But just because an area isn’t at extreme risk, doesn’t mean the risk is negligible. 

“I think it will be in most people's minds, having seen what has happened in the USA, in France, in many European countries”, Meijer said.