THE State Government has carried out less than 50 per cent of the public land planned burns recommended by the Bushfires Royal Commission.
In the five years since the horrific Black Saturday fire season of 2009, on average about 170,000 hectares of public land has been back-burned each year, which is less than half of the annual rolling target of 390,000ha, according to the Bushfires Royal Commission Implementation Monitor annual report.
Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley said weather was the reason many planned burns were cancelled, including heat making the burns dangerous and rain making them ineffective.
An ongoing review into the planned burns regime was looking into how they could best protect life, property, biodiversity and critical infrastructure, he said at a Fire Action Week event in Bendigo on Monday.
The news comes as Mr Lapsley warned this summer could be another "very serious" fire season.
"Since we had deficient rainfall in September, we've had very poor rainfall since; it's dry and it's going to get drier," he said.
"We've also seen with the rains across the weekend, they have had minimum impact; the grass is dry and rain now won't change that.
"In some areas, there is little water in dams. You go to some parts north and north-west of Bendigo, say Inglewood and Wedderburn, ehere there are dams that are dry.
"We've actually got drought-like conditions in some parts of Victoria."
Soil dryness in some parts of Victoria were similar to that experienced in 2008 that preceded the Black Saturday bushfires, he said.
"If you look at a long, dry, hot summer that we'll have, we only need one day that is the hottest day, the windiest day."
Forecasters could not pinpoint where in the State fires were likely to strike, Mr Lapsley said.
"There will be a release of the latest climate information shortly that shows from Horsham to the coastal Warrnambool and along the coast to Geelong will be a very dry part that includes The Otways. Central Victoria and the region from the Yarra Ranges into Morwell including the Latrobe Valley will be the other dry spots."
He said given that many people live and holidayed in these areas, it was vital that emergency services got the right information to people this fire season, not to scare them, but to make them aware.
News of the possibly catastrophic fire season came as the cutting of almost 10 per cent of the Country Fire Authority's (CFA) paid workforce was made public.
Mr Lapsley confirmed 164 jobs were to be cut at the CFA, but these largely administrative and support roles and "front line service delivery would not be affected".
"These back of house administrative efficiencies will take a number of years," he said.
The job cuts were only part of the story, with career firefighters and volunteer support officers to increase during the same period.
