Emergency services minister David Elliott was in the Hunter yesterday presenting bushfire citations to firefighters.
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The education department has audited public schools for bushfire risk.
Dry 40-degree weather is predicted for the weekend.
All three are reminders that the 2020-21 bushfire season is under way.
It's a rare summer that passes without big bushfires but the 2019-20 season was one of the worst on record, with scientists pointing to evidence they say shows clear linkages between anthropogenic climate change and the ferocity and size of last season's blazes.
An Australian parliamentary library report said the 2019-20 bushfires killed 33 people, including nine firefighters.
The report indicated that NSW bore the brunt of the destruction, losing more than 2400 of the 3000-plus houses destroyed by fire.
About 5.3 million hectares of the 17 million hectares burned nationwide were in NSW.
The report said an estimated one billion animals would have succumbed to the flames across the country, which also took their toll on various rare or endangered species.
Last year's fires almost claimed another high-profile victim, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose decision to stay on holidays in Hawaii at the height of the blazes burned a lot of the political capital he'd built up in last year's "miracle" election win.
![NO DEAL: A screen grab from the now famous January 2020 footage in which the woman tells Prime Minister Scott Morrison: "I'll only shake your hand if you give more funding to RFS [rural fire service]."](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/3ArTPYWJ7uTzcYp6Sg47gg6/824c423f-6fbc-4846-ae35-7cb72991070b.JPG/r0_1_558_368_w576_h298_fmax.webp "NO DEAL: A screen grab from the now famous January 2020 footage in which the woman tells Prime Minister Scott Morrison: \"I'll only shake your hand if you give more funding to RFS [rural fire service].\"")
As fate would have it, it was another disaster - the globally disruptive COVID-19 pandemic - that soon enough restored Mr Morrison's political fortunes.
While the coronavirus outlook has brightened remarkably in Australia in recent days, it would be a foolish bet to think such benign conditions will continue uninterrupted into the new year.
The experience of the northern hemisphere summer was that COVID unsurprisingly complicated the already difficult work of firefighters of all descriptions.
The bushfire Royal Commission also heard of the likely difficulties this season if coronavirus is again on the march in Australia.
Volunteer recruitment has apparently taken a hit, and active outbreaks mean, in simple terms, that every firefighter would be up against a second, invisible threat as well as the walls of flame in front of them.
The intensity of last season's fires meant flames "spotted" from one ground to the next, but sadly, arson is all too often a factor in bushfire seasons.
La Nina weather might make this a cooler, wetter summer, but a fire won't start if the first match isn't struck.
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IN THE NEWS:
Ian Kirkwood
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
