Resilience NSW chief and incumbent NSW Australian of the Year Shane Fitzsimmons says the combination of COVID-19 and bushfire activity may leave many residents "susceptible to the elements" this summer.
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Mr Fitzsimmons, who was last month named NSW Australian of the Year, oversaw the Rural Fire Service during last season's unprecedented bushfires, which razed 5.5 million hectares in NSW and killed 26 people.
He now heads disaster management agency Resilience NSW.
Mr Fitzsimmons told reporters on Monday that inland NSW was likely to bear the greatest bushfire risk in the 2020-21 season due to significant grass growth over recent months of drought-breaking rain.
Additionally, coronavirus-prompted international travel restrictions would likely funnel coastal-dwelling NSW residents inland for summer holidays.
This could cause significant problems down the track, Mr Fitzsimmons said, driving the state's residents into areas of primary bushfire risk.
"COVID has to remain prominent in all our thinking," he said.
"We've got people travelling into rural and regional areas of NSW which is great for the economy, for local communities, for the rebuilding and recovery process ... but it also reminds us we're going to have a lot of people susceptible to the elements as we head into this season.
"A lot of work has gone into, as a multi-agency effort, anticipating COVID-safe evacuation and relief centres across NSW."
Mr Fitzsimmons led the RFS statewide bushfire response in the 2019-20 season, including a 74,000-strong crew of mostly volunteers.
The 51-year-old stumped up for daily press conferences, liaised with government leaders and consoled the loved ones of deceased firefighters.
He said the recovery process for razed NSW communities was far from over - and could be stunted by the bushfires to come in 2020-21.
Last weekend's record-breaking November heatwave spurred a number of blazes, including one which destroyed a house in Sydney's Northmead.
"It was an ominous sign of what the potential is as we roll into the weeks and months ahead, above average temperatures and we're not even into summer yet and there's a long way to go," Mr Fitzsimmons said.
"There's communities that are still healing, still rebuilding, that are prone to the challenges of a recurrence of fires and other disasters in the landscape."
Australian Associated Press
