Volunteer firefighters in Western Australia's far south-east are worried an overhaul of Australia's fire danger rating system will create a burden for local farmers.
The new Australian Fire Danger Rating System was rolled out across the country this month.
But the Esperance Shire will only use the system on a trial basis this season, as it learns how it informs decisions around harvest and vehicle movement bans.
"The numbers we currently use [with the old system] work really well," deputy shire president and local firefighter Ron Chambers said.
"There's a good balance between safety and also the ability for farmers to carry out their normal operations in that time of the year which is harvesting.
"The issue with this new system coming in is working out what numbers to implement into our policy … that would also trigger those vehicle movement bans."
The WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) has warned that using both systems will be confusing.
But the shire, which responded to catastrophic fires in 2015, was sticking to the plan.
Could more harvest bans be triggered?
Declaring total fire bans remains the responsibility of the state government, which will now use the new system.
The shire is obliged to declare a harvest and vehicle movement ban on total fire ban days.
Mr Chambers did not expect to see an increase in total fire bans, and therefore vehicle and harvest movement bans, because of the state government's use of the new system.
But he said farmers would get more insight into that next month, when Bureau of Meteorology and DFES staff came to town to run a workshop about the changes.
The shire was also free to set harvest bans even when a total fire ban was not declared.
It planned to test the new system against the old system when making these calls this season.
Mr Chambers said if the 2022 season revealed issues with the new system, it would speak with the state government and resolve them before the 2023 fire season.
New system could be better for farmers
DFES rural fire division executive director Murray Carter believed the new system would give brigades better information to make calls around harvest and vehicle movement bans.
"We've gone back over 10 years of weather and fire data to make sure there's no artificial impediments being put in place by this new system," Mr Carter said.
"So it should actually be better.
"But the total fire bans and vehicle movement bans will be wholly dependent on the weather as it arrives."
