The Rural Fire Service has wound back operations on the Brassknocker Fire within Wadbilliga National Park as a result of the wet weather.
The risk to firefighters increases dramatically as a result of these type of conditions.
RFS Far South Coast Media Liaison Officer Nathan Barnden said this makes firefighting conditions dangerous.
“These storms that we’re seeing are unfortunately, while they’re not widespread rain, what they are doing is bringing real isolated downpours and strong winds, and that creates a bit of a hazard across the fireground for our firefighters,” Mr Barnden said.
“So we’ve seen wind bringing down trees that were previously damaged by fire, these trails that our crews are working on get slippery and get muddy and that fireground, unfortunately, becomes a little bit more hazardous for our firefighters,” he said.
“So we’ve been focusing a lot the last 48 hours on ensuring the safety of our people. That’s meant changing our strategy and tactic to focus on patrolling from a bit of a distance.
“Once those conditions do ease and we get to see some better weather or some more benign conditions, we will get firefighters back out there to check the status.”
The break is welcomed by local fire crews.
“Yeah, look, our firefighters are certainly happy, but I think our community is probably more happy again,” he said.
“We’ve seen this rain come across an area that’s been impacted by both, you know, drought over this last summer period, but also just consistent threat of fire, and while this will give us a reprieve for a period of time.
“We do have a long period of summer left. And while we’re not sure exactly what this rain will bring over the coming days, those forecasts range from a few mills, right up to a couple of hundreds. So I’m sure whatever we get will be a fantastic break for our community.”
