CFS announces official dates for 2019/20 Fire Danger Season
The CFS has released the official dates for the upcoming bushfire season – with some districts starting this Sunday.
SA News
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The 2020/21 bushfire season will start on Sunday for many South Australian areas, the Country Fire Service has announced.
Unlike recent years, this upcoming fire danger season will not start early, thanks to mild conditions and recent rainfall in many districts.
It will start on November 1 for the Eastern Eyre Peninsula, Flinders, North East Pastoral, North West Pastoral and West Coast districts.
The season will start on November 15 for the Lower Eyre Peninsula, Mid North, Murraylands, Riverland, Upper South East and Yorke Peninsula districts.
For the Lower South East, it will start on December 1.
End dates vary between each district, but all will conclude next year on either March 31, April 15 or April 30.
Bushfire season dates for the Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island and metro Adelaide are yet to be announced as the State Bushfire Management Committee finalises discussions.
CFS Chief Mark Jones said the season had moved back to “traditional starting dates” this year.
“A milder start to the season than in previous years means we will see the commencement of the fire danger season for many areas at a time that residents were traditionally more used to,” he said.
The 2019/20 CFS fire danger season – one of the worst bushfire periods in SA history – started two weeks early for several districts.
“With no need for the starts to be brought in early, as in previous years, there should be no surprises for residents in these districts who have been preparing their properties.”
The Bureau of Meteorology’s climate outlook forecasts rainfall to likely be above average across much of Australia, because of La Niña – the periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures.
Daytime temperatures, however, are likely to be warmer than average for South East SA.
Deputy chief officer Rob Sandford said “we need everyone to prepare for the fire danger season”.
“The slightly milder conditions that we may see at this time of the year compared with the last couple of years is no reason for people to be complacent,” he said.
“We harp on about it all the time, but having a simple bushfire survival plan only takes five minutes to do and it can be done online and then shared with your family and neighbours.”
