Central Victorian authorities are bracing for a severe fire season following months of below-average rainfall and predictions of a long, hot summer.

CFA Bendigo regional commander Mark Gilmore said conditions were similar to last fire season, when bushfires destroyed hundreds of hectares of grassland and threatened properties near Kyneton.

Mr Gilmore said a burst of rain in September last year had not been sufficient to redress the underlying dryness in the soil, resulting in a longer fire season.

“Currently, from a firefighter point of view, the underlying soil moisture isn’t there and so that can mean that summer can come on quite quickly in this part of the world,” he said.

“There’s no moisture down in the soil, as anyone who’s been digging post holes will know.”

Victorian emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley said conditions in the region indicated there would be “a significant fire season ahead of us”.

“If there are fires on those very hot, windy days it means they’ll take hold quicker and they’ll take significantly more work to then extinguish,” he said.

Mr Lapsley urged residents to prepare for a long, dry fire season.

“Obviously people need to be prepared for an early summer and an early fire season so people should take this warning to do their fire prevention work in October/November,” he said.

“We’re relying on the community.”

The commissioner’s warning comes after the release of the Southern Australia Seasonal Bushfire Outlook 2015-16 report yesterday, which showed Bendigo would be at above-average fire risk this season.