Bushfires to come by the end of summer as heatwaves reach Australia

Former Australian firefighter Greg Mullins said a lot of grass cover had dried out over the past few months.

"We can't cope with the worst years now.

"But if the worst years become average I'd hate to think what a bad one is," he said.

"When we go into summer, it's likely that we'll also see periods of heatwave.

"Of course heatwaves dry out vegetation as we're seeing in Greece and Canada and that leads to fires," Mr Mullins said.

Following three years of prolific vegetation growth from La Nina, Australia was witness to below-average rainfall throughout winter this year.

Mr Mullins said that resulted in a lot of grass cover that had dried out in recent months which is increasing the risk of bushfires.

"And we're having frosts already and that kills the grass. So all of the portents are there for a bad fire season," he said.

It comes as southern Europe experiences torrid heatwaves.

The Cerberus Heatwave put 16 Italian cities on red alert on July 15 as the country was hit with extreme temperatures. The island of Sardinia reached 47.3 degrees celsius on July 19.

Since 2020, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Albania have recorded their hottest days to date.

Mr Mullins said while much of South Australia and north-west Victoria could expect fires, other regions should be on the lookout.

In NSW, the Northern Tablelands, Western Plains and South Western Slopes are particularly at risk.

Alice Springs and the Barkley Tablelands in the Northern Territory and Queensland's Darling Downs are also likely to witness fires this year.

Mr Mullins said despite these factors, it was unlikely Australia would see its worst year on record.

"A lot of people are asking me if we're in for another Black Summer and I very much doubt it.

"I think we'll have an active summer with a lot of fires but because of all the moisture from the triple La Nina the tree canopies should stay fairly green," he said

"Whereas in Black Summer we'd had a drought and the tops of the trees were basically dying so the fires were extremely intense."

But with more than 50 years of experience fighting fires, Mr Mullins said they would continue to get worse.

"The most houses we'd ever lost in one season prior to Black Summer was 225 back in 2013," he said.

"Then in 2019-2020, it was 10 times that. 2476 homes and thousands of other buildings."

Mr Mullins said going off current warming trends projections suggested a bad bushfire year would be an average summer by 2040.

"The world's weather patterns are changing.

"We need to wake up and realise 200 years of prosperity driven by fossil fuels has benefited us, but now we're paying the price and we've got to transition rapidly," he said.

"It is an existential threat, the secretary-general of the United Nations has said that. But world leaders don't seem to be listening."

Mr Mullins said with the country's fire service already overburdened, the responsibility now fell to residents.

"We need to invest in community resilience. Subsidies to bring houses up to bushfire standards, buying back properties on flood plains and equipping residents so they can save their own homes when there's no firetrucks available on the worst days," he said.

With an early fire season on the way, Mr Mullins said people should be listening to their local fire services.

"They know the conditions and they'll have great advice on what to do," he said.

"But don't wait until summer, we'll be getting fires by the end of winter."