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Speaker 1: We know that there is a five and declared for

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Speaker 1: today and joining us on the line to tell us

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Speaker 1: a little bit more bushfires enties. Andrew Turner, Good morning, Andrew. Okay, Katie,

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Speaker 1: sorry to keep you waiting, Andrew. I know it's looking

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Speaker 1: like it's going to be quite difficult conditions today and.

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Speaker 2: Certainly today the gusts of winds getting up to about

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Speaker 2: forty kilometers an hour, and it's quite a long period

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Speaker 2: up to between four and six hours of very windy

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Speaker 2: and dry conditions today, but it leads and progresses into

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Speaker 2: some even worsening weather tomorrow and Wednesday.

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Speaker 1: Well, so this is expected to last for a couple

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Speaker 1: of days, and as you just said, worstening tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: Near the peak of it is probably tomorrow and Wednesday.

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Speaker 2: The Bureau is sort of not discounting anything. It could

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Speaker 2: go as long as Friday or even Saturday. So quite

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Speaker 2: a prolonged period of fire weather. And during that entire

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Speaker 2: time it'll be soon the dry, super hot, and very

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Speaker 2: very windy.

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Speaker 1: Andrew, how things going right now? Are there any active

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Speaker 1: fires as we speak?

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Speaker 2: I'm touching wood at the moment. No, there's no fires

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Speaker 2: that have been reported, but we are on standby the

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Speaker 2: weather is such that we had a couple of fires

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Speaker 2: over the weekend and very easily put out. The level

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Speaker 2: of humidity was far greater, But just overnight the dry

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Speaker 2: air came through, and those same fires if they occurred today,

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Speaker 2: it would be a very different question about how we

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Speaker 2: might control them.

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Speaker 1: How do you prepare for days like this? I know

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Speaker 1: that you guys are really you know, you're prepared for anything,

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Speaker 1: but it sounds like they're going to be pretty difficult conditions,

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Speaker 1: certainly tomorrow on Wednesday.

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Speaker 2: Certainly there's a level of planning that goes in prior

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Speaker 2: to the weather itself. We've got an incident management team established,

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Speaker 2: so we've got people in the position and undertaking certain

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Speaker 2: duties that assist us when something does get going, we

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Speaker 2: can get going straight away. We've also got contractor resources

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Speaker 2: on available to us as well. We've got firefighting aircraft

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Speaker 2: and some helicopters as well as earth moving equipment, so

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Speaker 2: if we do need them, they're on call and they're

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Speaker 2: ready to go immediately.

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Speaker 1: And it is being reported by some other media outlets

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Speaker 1: that they could. You know, the conditions that we're expecting

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Speaker 1: could be the worst that we've seen so far this year.

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Speaker 1: Is that right?

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Speaker 2: Certainly that's what the Bureau, the Senior forecast is there

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Speaker 2: have been telling us that this has the potential to

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Speaker 2: get into the extreme category and that would be the

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Speaker 2: by far the worst weather that we've experienced so far

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Speaker 2: this year.

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Speaker 1: Are there any locations in particular, Andrew, that you are

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Speaker 1: most concerned about? At this point?

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Speaker 2: It's windy and dry right across the top end, however,

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Speaker 2: in the Darwin to Adelaide River fire Weather forecast area

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Speaker 2: that's the fireband declaration for today. Tomorrow it broadens and

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Speaker 2: takes in Dundee and points to it and becomes as

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Speaker 2: wide as the Well. It's anticipated it will become as

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Speaker 2: wide as the Northern fire Protection Zone and then Wednesday

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Speaker 2: it'll extend south to Catterm as well. So it's quite

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Speaker 2: a large trench of the territory.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what's your advice for locals this morning? I know

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Speaker 1: that you know hopefully people are as prepared as possible,

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Speaker 1: But what is your advice.

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Speaker 2: It's pretty much the same as always have a plan,

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Speaker 2: stick to that plan, understand what you are going to do.

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Speaker 2: If a flyer doestn't and if you do see a fire,

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Speaker 2: please report it to triples thereon, because it is the

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Speaker 2: quickest way to get a response.

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Speaker 1: Anything else we should be this morning aware of this morning, Andrew, No,

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Speaker 1: just probably.

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Speaker 2: A heads out to the volunteers. We've got quite a

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Speaker 2: few of them that have expressed some readiness as well,

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Speaker 2: so if any fires do get going, it will be

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Speaker 2: largely the volunteer manpower that will be used to control them.

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Speaker 1: Good on them. I mean it's a tough job. I

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Speaker 1: know it's a tough job for all of you, but

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Speaker 1: a big shout out to those volunteers and everybody involved

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Speaker 1: as you head into what could be a difficult few days. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: Thanks Andrew, I always appreciate your time. Thank you very

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Speaker 1: much for having a chat with us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie.

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Speaker 1: That's Bushfires NTS. Andrew Turner there,