''It's unusual for the January fire season to be like this - it's harder, earlier,'' Otago Rural Fire Authority principal rural fire officer Dr Stephanie Rotarangi said yesterday.
Her comments came in the wake of three major grass fires in the area in two days - on Tarras, Luggate and Omakau farmland - all believed to be started by mowers striking stones.
Dr Rotarangi said Otago residents should be prepared for about another six weeks of extreme fire risk.
''North Otago is probably our area of most concern at the moment, because of its dryness, but the fire danger is high throughout Otago.''
Rural firefighters had attended about 100 incidents since Christmas Day and the majority were fires.
''Because of the sheer number of calls, our resources are getting fatigued, but they're coping, '' she said.
''The majority are volunteers and some take leave without pay from their work to fight fires to protect Otago.''
It was also a challenging time for landowners to manage the fire risk on their properties, Dr Rotarangi said.
One of the authority's deputy principal rural fire officers, Jamie Cowan, said yesterday the costs of battling vegetation fires would be recovered from farmers if mowers were deemed to have caused a fire.
He warned the cost of fighting a single fire could reach $100,000.
Although he had yet to finalise amounts, he estimated the cost of fighting the Tarras fire earlier this week could be about $10,000.
It was fortunate all three fires were brought under control relatively quickly and no homes were threatened, he said.
Six rural fire authorities managed by Otago's local authorities and the Department of Conservation merged to form the rural fire authority, which began operating in July last year.
The merged fire authorities were the Central Otago District Council, Clutha District Council, Dunedin City Council, Queenstown Lakes District Council, Waitaki District Council and Doc.
Otago is the country's largest rural fire authority, covering about 4.2 million hectares.
Mr Cowan said the new authority had ''hit the ground running'' in its first fire season.
''Mind you, we'd have to. We're managing fires in the driest part of New Zealand, after all.''
