Soaring temperatures, bone-dry soil and an extreme lack of rain have primed Australia for a potentially harrowing summer of mega-fires. Bushfire season in Australia usually begins at the turn of the year, but as firefighters fought more than 50 blazes that erupted around Sydney this past weekend, government officials warned of the potential for a mega-bushfire season.

According to authorities from nearly every Australian state, severe drought and hotter-than-normal temperatures have turned massive areas of land into virtual tinderboxes that are only a spark away from devastation. August 2006 was not only the hottest on record for Australia, it was also the driest.

The Australian reported that the I-zone, the rural fringe surrounding most Australian cities, is “facing an unprecedented threat this summer” (September 26). Spring has barely begun in the land Down Under, and state and local governments across the nation are already making preparations for a summer of mega-fires.

“The weekend’s bushfires, which killed one man and destroyed several homes, are a testament to the surprising speed with which the bushfire season has sprung on the country. Much like a racing firestorm, rural fire chiefs spent yesterday reassessing their strategies” (ibid., emphasis ours throughout). The blazes that erupted on both the north and south sides of Australia’s largest city were fanned by 60-mph winds and abnormally hot and dry conditions.

Spring is supposed to be when New South Wales receives much of its annual rainfall—bushfires aren’t supposed to begin for another six weeks, at least.

In Western Australia, owing to hot temperatures and dry weather, authorities are anticipating that bushfire season this year will begin in mid-November—at least six weeks before a normal fire season would begin. In Victoria, where numerous fires have already broken out, local fire officials believe fire season will begin six to eight weeks early this year. The same trend persists in South Australia. Even Tasmania, a state that remains comparatively wet and cool during summer, is on alert and expecting more bushfires this year.

As fire authorities across Australia prepare for the worst, they are also taking every opportunity to prepare the people for the worst. Australian citizens, particularly those in the I-zones around the cities, are already being told to clean gutters, get rid of combustible matter and be ready to act quickly and decisively in the case of a bushfire. With summer lurking around the corner, the anticipation of bushfire season is already growing among many nervous Australians.