THE TWEED has been faced with smoky conditions, and now landowners will have to think twice before lighting up.

The Rural Fire Service has brought in the Fire Danger Period a month early for much of NSW, after an unusually dry winter.

North Coast Rural Fire Service operational services coordinator inspector Matthew Inwood said permits will be required from Friday August 1 until the end of March next year.

"We've already seen an increased level of fire danger, and we have no forecast of wet weather," Insp Inwood said.

Insp Inwood said the longer permit season would extend as far south as Taree.

Insp Inwood said the RFS still wants people to conduct hazard reduction burns, when the conditions are safe.

"We're not trying to stop hazard reductions, in fact we encourage them, conditions suiting," he said.

"People need to make sure they are mindful of the weather conditions.

"(Permit season) certainly makes it safer because we have some level of control over when people are lighting fires."

As permit season has neared, upwards of ten fires have burnt across the Northern Rivers.

"The crews have been kept busy across the Far North Coast," Insp Inwood said.

After the Tweed Coast was riddled with suspicious fires about a year ago, Insp Inwood said the RFS wouldn't take lightly to arson.

"We certainly investigate any fire that's suspicious," he said.

"Anyone lighting fires through arson will face the full brunt of the law."

Again, Insp Inwood has urged Tweed residents to complete a bush fire survival plan.

To do so, and to find out how to get a fire permit, visit rfs.nsw.gov.au.