“If you get those days when the wind is blowing strong and the temperatures are really warm, the humidity is low, you know those will be the periods where we get some elevated risks for fire danger,” Brandolino said.
He said areas such as Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne had the most elevated risk, but fire risk still existed for Whanganui.
Temperature outlook from Niwa National Climate Centre.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) district manager Nigel Dravitzki said this year’s fire season would be quite an increase on previous years, which were below normal.
“Australia is already experiencing really warm temperatures over there, and that’s quite early,” Dravitzki said.
“The phenomenon of the impact of climate change is definitely upon us.”
He said Fenz was encouraging people, especially in semi-rural areas, to mitigate the potential for fire risk.
“Keep flammable materials away from the house and other structures, make sure gutters are clear and keep all your accessways clear so when emergency services arrive they can get in.
“When you’re lighting a fire, I’ve always said if you’ve got some doubt yourself: don’t.
“You need to think ahead to: is this a large fire? Will the embers stay around for a period of time? If the wind picks up, bits of pieces can spread later on.”
From hot to cold - and back again
Brandolino said “pretty wild temperatures” were expected.
He said it would be similar to Whanganui’s changing weather this week, with frosty conditions on Wednesday morning shifting to unusually warm days on Thursday and Friday.
“There’ll be pretty dramatic temperature swings and I think this week is a good example of that.
“That kind of variability where we go from pretty unusually chilly to warm, and we do that with some regularity. I think that will be a theme a lot of people will notice.
