SOARING temperatures across the state has sent fire warnings to an all new high during harvest this season.
NSW Rural Fire Service regional operations manager, Paul Whitely, said header fires have been common this season and unfortunately, crop loss from fires has been worse than usual.
Mr Whitely said with high yielding, thick crops and machines working hard to get through them, fire risks have been extremely high during harvest.
Chickpea dust has also been a major problem which has started multiple fires across the state.
There has also been confirmed cases of rock strikes at the front of machines, which Mr Whitely said has also caused fires.
At 1pm on Monday, the Rural Fire Service was dealing with three different header fires of varying sizes across the state.
Mr Whitely said fires in crops had been bad throughout northern NSW, however, they have been happening in most cropping areas.
“There was a fire in West Wyalong started by a header which burnt five and a half thousand hectares of crops,” he said.
The Rural Fire Service has been working on a grain harvesters guide which is available from local fire control centres.
Mr Whitely said growers and contractors should be looking at the temperature and wind when harvesting and if wind increases on hot days, to park up their machines.
“They should also be cautious of general header maintenance,” he said.
“Getting dust off machines, especially around the engine bay is very important.”