Spring only just started and the season's already shaping up to be a serious one. The Bureau of Meteorology declared an El Niño in June, and there's talk it could end up one of the strongest on record. AFAC, the body that coordinates fire agencies across the country, put out its spring outlook on 19 August, and it's not a quiet one. Parts of NSW, southeast Queensland, northeastern Tasmania, sections of WA, SA and Victoria, and most of the Northern Territory are all sitting at above-average fire risk this spring.
Some of that comes down to how dry it's already been. Inland southern Queensland and northeast NSW had one of their driest starts to the year on record between January and July, and WA's soil moisture has been dropping too. There's also a positive Indian Ocean Dipole developing alongside the El Niño, which tends to make dry periods drier still. None of this guarantees a bad fire season everywhere, weather never works that neatly, but it's enough that AFAC is telling people in those areas to get ready early rather than wait and see.
The power risk isn't just the obvious one
Most people think about bushfire and power in terms of lines coming down. That happens, but there's a second, less talked about way the power goes out on a bad fire day, and it's deliberate.
In South Australia, the network operator has the legal right to switch off power in high-risk areas before a fire even starts, if conditions are bad enough that a fallen line or a spark off the network could set one going. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Western Australia works a bit differently: after a fault on a catastrophic-rated day, crews won't just flick the power back on. Someone has to physically check the line first, sometimes by helicopter if it's a long rural stretch, and that can mean being without power well into the evening.
The point isn't to alarm anyone. It's that a power outage on a fire risk day can be planned and precautionary, not just storm or fire damage. If you're on a property in one of these networks, that's worth knowing before the season gets going, not during it.
Sizing for what actually matters on a bad fire day
If you're relying on a generator for property protection rather than just keeping the fridge on, the load looks different to a normal home backup setup.
- Sprinkler and mist systems for ember protection draw a real amount of continuous power, not a quick burst
- Bore or dam pumps for firefighting water need enough starting surge to actually get going, which is usually far higher than their running draw
- If you're also trying to keep essentials running at the same time, all of that needs to be sized together, not separately
This is a genuinely different sizing exercise to "how do I keep the lights on", and it's worth working through properly rather than guessing. A generator that starts a pump fine on its own but trips the moment a fridge kicks in isn't much use when it actually matters.
Where you put the thing matters as much as what it is
This is the part that gets skipped in most generator advice, and it shouldn't be.
- Keep it clear of dry grass, mulch and anything that could catch from a hot exhaust
- Store fuel properly, away from the house and away from where embers are likely to land, not in a shed full of other flammable gear
- If the property's sealed up against smoke, think about ventilation. Carbon monoxide risk goes up when doors and windows are shut tight and a generator's running nearby
None of this is complicated, but it's the sort of thing that's obvious in hindsight and easy to overlook when you're focused on just having power at all.
Worth sorting before the season peaks, not during it
AFAC's next outlook, the one that actually covers summer, comes out in late November. Whatever it says, the properties in the best position will be the ones that worked out their sizing, checked their setup and knew their local network's approach to outages before the season was in full swing.
If you're on a rural property, running irrigation or livestock alongside fire protection needs, or just want a second opinion on whether your current setup covers what you actually need, that's the kind of thing worth a phone call to whoever supplies and services your generator, well before the day you actually need it to work.
