The first decent autumn and early winter rainfall in the Hunter in several years has created a nice amount of ground fuel which will give fire crews an early advantage when the weather warms up.

Between February 1 and June 30, more than 420mm of rain was recorded at Cessnock, which was blanketed by smoke over summer due to fires at Wollombi. That compared to just 211.2mm of rain in the same period last year.

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Lower Hunter Rural Fire Service district manager Superintendent Martin Siemsen said after three incredibly dry winters in a row, local crews were called into action as early as August 8 last year and worked tirelessly through to February.

"It definitely wasn't a normal season," he said. "There was an absolutely mammoth amount of requests for assistance."

That took its toll on the men and women on the frontline, with mental wellbeing programs ramped up to deal with the aftermath.

"Some of them were going for a long time - that has a profound effect on someone's psyche," Superintendent Siemsen said. "What they saw can have long-term effects."

Superintendent Siemsen said while the decision was yet to be made, he was hopeful that the bushfire danger period would kick off as normal on October 1, rather than early like previous years.

"The past three years have been quite dry," Superintendent Siemsen said. "We've had some rain this year which has been a bit unusual. While it's not drought-breaking, it has been continual, which is a good omen compared to the last three years.

"It's not impossible, but I couldn't see an early onset happening this year."

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The hopeful return to a more normal season comes at a good time for the RFS after COVID-19 impeded the service's preparatory work through the cooler months.

Restrictions meant initiatives such as professional development could not be organised and community engagement had to be delayed. However Superintendent Siemsen said those activities should be able to restart soon.

He said crews have also been able to assist National Parks and Wildlife Service with a number of hazard reduction burns recently.

But while conditions have been positive, Superintendent Siemsen urged residents not to be complacent.

"People still need to maintain their properties, have a bushfire survival plan and understanding the warnings in the case of an emergency," he said.

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