NSW has been "extraordinarily fortune", Ben Shepherd, senior spokesman for the Rural Fire Service, said.
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While the "heat's been relentless", the accompanying winds that might have been expected to push danger ratings to severe have not been whipped up so far, Inspector Shepherd said.
However, the bureau's forecasts for above-average temperatures during the February-April period and the relatively dry conditions of vegetation especially in the state's north-east mean the public shouldn't let its guard down.
"It's still only February, and we've got as much as two months to go" before fire conditions are likely to back off significantly, Inspector Shepherd said.
While NSW posted a January that was a stunning 6 degrees above normal for both days and nights - easily a record for both measures, rainfall was only about 40 per cent of the average.
"Numerous sites in the Northern Rivers, Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains, Mid North Coast districts had their lowest total January rainfall on record," the bureau said in its monthly report.









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