VICTORIA faces a fire season of unprecedented danger, with the states fire officials expecting conditions to be worse than last summer when more than 170 lives were lost to bushfires.

Less than six months after the Black Saturday disaster, a leaked Department of Sustainability and Environment report warns the next fire season could start as early as November and that fires will burn with greater intensity this summer.

The report, written by department fire management officer Paul Brockhoff, says the bush has dried out to such an extent that official methods for predicting fire behaviour will be less accurate, and will tend to underestimate the threat.

Singling out Melbourne and its hinterlands as being among the states driest areas, Mr Brockhoff used impassioned language to illustrate the extreme danger posed by the coming summer.

The prospect we are looking at is not just another above-average fire season with above-normal losses or risks to life and property, he said.