The NSW Rural Fire Service has announced a total fire ban for regions surrounding Canberra on Saturday, but the ACT will not be under the same conditions.
The total fire ban will apply to Goulburn Mulwaree, Queanbeyan-Palerang, Upper Lachlan, Yass Valley, Cootamundra-Gundagai, Hilltops and Snowy Valleys.
Forecast hot and windy conditions have prompted the ban.
"What we're seeing is that some areas to the north of us, such as the grasslands around Yass and Goulburn, have dried out and are presenting that heightened fire risk," head of the ACT Rural Fire Service Rohan Scott said.
"So those districts in the Southern Tablelands are affected in totality, even though the risk may be lower in other parts of it."
However, the risk is not the same in the ACT, Mr Scott said.
"The levels of moisture in the soil in the ACT are unusually high for this time of year so our level of fire risk is quite low."
"We don't even have our fire towers manned, which for this time of year, at the height of summer, is very unusual," he said.
"In fact, such is the low level of risk in the ACT at the moment, that we're considering having a hazard reduction burn on Sunday and to do that in February in the ACT, is almost unheard of," he said.
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