Mike Brown is a former chief officer but has 39 years experience and says he has seen the effects of climate change impact the way firefighters respond to fires.

"In some cases, it's no longer about putting a fire out, it's about protecting people and resources as best we can but sometimes we have to let the fire run its course," he said.

Mr Brown said what had happened in Tasmania, was that fire seasons were getting longer and fires were becoming more frequent due to drier winters and springs.

A side effect of longer fire seasons is the impact of fatigue, particularly on volunteer firefighters.

Mr Brown said more needed to be done to support fatigue management for all firefighters in response to a longer and sustained fire season becoming the norm.

Firefighters are on the frontline of climate change impacts with increases in severity and the frequency of bushfires one of the major factors.

Also, the Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed that extreme weather patterns, such as extreme hot days, were also becoming more frequent than the wet ones.

Tasmania has also warmed about one degree in the past 100 years, and rain patterns have also changed, becoming more likely to happen all at once over a few days, rather than over a full season.

Mr Brown said fire season in Tasmania had typically run over the summer months but today it was not unusual for it to start as early as October.

The Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre published its 2019 Australian Seasonal Bushfire Outlook earlier last week, which showed the season is expected to begin mid-to-late October.

Mr Brown said Black Saturday in Victoria in 2009 was the catalyst for a national review into firefighting efforts due to changing weather patterns and the unpredictability of the season.

Closer to home, responses changed after the devastating fires at Dunalley and Bicheno in 2013.

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"Firefighters are at the forefront of seeing these impacts [of climate change]...they definitely see the escalation of it," he said.

Mr Brown said he joined other regional fire chiefs and signed a declaration of support regarding climate change to send a strong message to the government to push them towards action.

"We want to let the government know that we've got to do something to curtail greenhouse gases, we are taking the carbon out of the ground and it's going into the atmosphere," he said.

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