From Friday anyone looking at lighting a fire, including a hazard reduction burn, must obtain a fire permit from the local fire control centre based in Wauchope.

This is two months ahead of the normal period. A spokesperson for the service said 15 local government areas were affected by the decision.

“From August 1, we will see the early introduction of the bush fire danger season across much of the north east of the state,” the spokesperson said.

“This is due to the onset of increasing winds which have significantly dried out the fuel in the [Port Macquarie-Hastings Council] area.

“What we are experiencing is an increasing number of fires, particularly grass fires, which have proven difficult to contain.

“In early July, we experienced 157 bush and grass fires in just a four day period. And they were really difficult to contain because of those prevailing dry and windy conditions.

“The McGilvray Road fire at Bonny Hills affected 627 hectares while 868 hectares was burnt out at Nabiac.”

But in some good news, forecasters were now backing away from an El Nino weather pattern, said the spokesperson.

“It is still predicted but not as severe,” the spokesperson said.

“This is good news but it still means that we will be experiencing hot, dry and windy conditions, which lead to dangerous fire conditions.”

The predicted El Nino pattern will have an impact in our area late this year and into early 2015. Meteorologist with weatherzone, Max Gonzalez, says the weather event won't be as strong as first predicted.

"We are still looking at an El Nino later this year but it won't be as strong as first anticipated," he said.

"This event will be forming in summer late this year and into the following year.

"The weather patterns generally associated with this weather event include less than average rainfall and less than average temperatures. The main trend is for drier than normal conditions.

Meanwhile a broad high over the region will see light winds remain for the next few days. Temperatures should reach around 23 degrees for the remainder of the week although there will be cold nights. A very strong front will push through the region late on Friday or early Saturday, Mr Gonzalez said.

"That front will bring a change in winds from a north westerly to a more west-south-westerly direction," he said.

"This will affect your region around midday on Saturday.

"There will be quite gusty winds from 45 to 60 kilometres per hour and an associated very big cold air mass will see temperatures drop quite dramatically on Sunday and Monday mornings in particular.

"Only about 2 to 8 millimetres of rain is predicted. There will be a warming trend gradually building from Tuesday although another round of cooler weather is predicted for later the following week."