Residents looking to light open fires during the summer season are being reminded to use a bit of common sense, but only after first obtaining a fire permit from their local council.

The start of daylight saving also marks the beginning of a six-month restricted fire season, signalling the end of the open fire season.

Photo: File.

Any rural fires lit between now and April require permits and must abide by the summer rural fire rules, with fires only allowed to be lit during daylight and not in strong winds.

Western Bay Moana Rural Fire Authority principal rural fire officer Alan Pearce says as with every year, the message is simple: 'Get a permit before you start burning”.

Fire officers are more than happy for people to burn rubbish, but only when conditions are safe for the activity.

'The permit sets some limitations on when you can. And really the dryness and the windiness of the season must be taken into account,” says Alan.

'If you have concerns about a fire, if you see one, or a fire you are conducting gets away, ring 111 immediately.

'Don't try and get hold of the fire authority – if it looks like its serious ring 111 and we can go from there.”

In his first restricted fire season as rural fire officer, Alan says conditions might not yet have reached the tinder dry conditions associated with summer but there is still the potential for any fire to get out of control in the coming months.

With this in mind he urges people to show some common sense and light fires only when necessary and in suitable areas.

'The fire weather is reasonable and we hope it stays that way this season.

'But we can expect that it will get dryer as the season progresses; so just a bit of common sense on that one.”

In 2013 Western Bay Moana Rural Fire Authorities attended about 151 fires ranging from scrub, dwellings, vehicles and machinery fires – a number as a result of no permit.

'It [the number of fires] wasn't overly high. We have had drier seasons and higher incidents of fire as a consequence.”