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High fire danger warning issued for Tasmania, some areas face fire bans

Tasmanians have been urged to take extra care today, with high to very high fire dangers predicted for parts of the state.

The East Coast, Midlands, Upper Derwent Valley and South East districts were all expected to be in the very high range.

Deputy regional fire chief, Hugh Jones, urged people not to leave campfires unattended and to extinguish them properly, and also to take care when power tools were used.

"You know fires can start, and will start," he said.

"We're hoping they won't be extensive fires, because we haven't had that really long drought leading up to Saturday's weather but certainly people shouldn't be too complacent either.

"We're expecting some reasonably high temperatures, low humidities and some gusty winds for the day."

Mr Jones said no fire permits would be issued in southern municipalities today, even though there was no total fire ban.

"The weather prescriptions are quite high but they're not quite high enough to trigger a total fire ban," he said.

"Normally it is a fire permit period, but we're restricting the issuing of permits for Saturday.

"So if anyone wants to burn, unfortunately they won't be able to because we won't issue a permit.

"However those fires that don't require a permit, that are under a cubic metre, they still can go ahead but we're encouraging people not to do it on Saturday and delay it for another day or two days."

Tasmania had a relatively wet January, which has delayed the onset of extreme summer fire conditions.

"Some of the heavier fuels could be still wet, but certainly the finer fuels like very fine leaves and grasses, do dry out fairly quickly," he said.

"With a bit of sun and a bit of wind on them, they can dry out fairly quickly.

"Fires can start, and will start.

"We're hoping they won't be extensive fires, because we haven't had that really long drought leading up to Saturday weather but certainly people shouldn't be too complacent either."