Prolonged dry conditions on the East Coast have prompted Tasmania Fire Service to bring forward the fire permit period for Break O'Day, Glamorgan-Spring Bay and Sorell council areas to September 28.
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Even with up to 150 millimetres of rainfall for parts of the East Coast so far this month, the long-term rainfall deficiency is about 400 millimetres meaning the region remains in drought-like conditions.
TFS acting deputy chief Sandy Whight said the permit period allowed authorities to keep track of where fires were in the landscape.
"The interests are for the East Coast of Tasmania, particularly from Scamander and then down in through the Freycinet Peninsula and the back of Sorell," she said.
MORE ON THE 2018/19 FIRE SEASON:
"The rest of the state is a normal fire season outlook, and normal for Tasmania is we do get bushfires.
"Coming into the spring the situation is for much drier conditions on the East Coast than what we saw this time last year."
The last Tasmanian fire season was considered the second worst in the modern era with almost 200,000 hectares of land burnt, including large fires in the Central Plateau and South-West. Fires were largely caused by dry lightning strikes before the New Year.
Fuel reduction burns started in autumn this year in preparation for the coming season, and a controlled burn was carried out at Dolphin Sands earlier this month.
Climate drivers pointing to a long, dry summer
The rainfall deficiency on the East Coast is unlikely to be rectified over the coming spring and summer, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
BOM severe weather manager Alex Melitsis said the lack of rainfall meant soils throughout Tasmania's east were drier than usual, although not as dry as before the last fire season.
He said climate drivers were aligning to create dry conditions on the East Coast.
"That's due to the Indian Ocean Dipole which is related to sea surface temperatures across the Indian Ocean, and also the Southern Annual Mode which is related to the strong belt of westerlies across Tasmania," Mr Melitsis said.
"Both of those climate drivers are lining up to produce lower than average rainfall across eastern Tasmania."