Indicator 3.1b: Area of forest burnt by planned and unplanned fire (2024) - Supporting information

The area of planned fire remained relatively constant in most jurisdictions over the period of 2016-17 to 2020-21 (Table 3.1b-5). The area of unplanned fires was also relatively constant in the Northern Territory and Queensland. However, the area of unplanned fires in the other jurisdictions varied widely, mostly reflecting the 2019-20 bushfires across southern and eastern Australia.

Click here for a Microsoft Excel workbook of the data for Table 3.1b-5.

Australia has no ongoing, nationally coordinated approach to the systematic mapping and reporting of fire areas. Geoscience Australia produced the Historical Bushfire Boundaries dataset in response to the 2019-20 bushfires, which aggregates burnt areas data supplied by states and territories from the early 1900s through to 2023 (excluding the Northern Territory).

For this national update, which was recommended by the Forest Fire Management Group (FFMG) and applied for reporting in Australia’s State of the Forest Report 2018, spatial coverages of fires were sourced from each state and territory, either by direct provision by relevant state or territory agencies or by accessing the relevant data portal. Most states and territories create their fire area dataset from multiple sources, including satellite imagery, aerial photography, aerial reconnaissance, and operational and on-ground knowledge and measurement (Table 3.1b-6).

State and territory datasets were separated into financial years (1 July to 30 June) and converted to a 100-metre raster (grid) dataset. Each pixel in each annual raster dataset was attributed with one of three possible fire type values: Planned fire, Unplanned fire, or Unburnt. Fire data were already attributed into these classifications for all states and territories except Queensland and the Northern Territory. In these two jurisdictions, fires occurring between December and July were classified as planned fire and fires occurring between August and November as unplanned fire. The classified datasets were then combined with the Forests of Australia (2023) and Tenure of Australia’s forests (2023) datasets to generate statistics on forest area affected by fire in each financial year, by fire type (planned or unplanned), forest type (including commercial plantations) and tenure. Each hectare was only counted once in any given year, even if it burnt more than once in that year.

Table 3.1b-6: Sources of fire data for the five-year period 2016-17 to 2020-21, by state and territory

Bushfires in southern and eastern Australia in 2019-20 started during Australia’s hottest and driest year on record (Australian Government 2020). Much of the country was in drought, and the first bushfire started on the east coast in August 2019, before the start of the official summer bushfire season. Through the second half of 2019, southern and eastern Australia experienced multiple large-scale and intense fires, in what became known as the ‘Black Summer bushfires’. The bushfires had major impacts on many rural communities, causing property, farm, livestock and wildlife losses and affecting local tourism and economies (Davey and Sarre 2020). During the peak of the fires in January 2020, ash and smoke from the fires were reported in New Zealand, and smoke was reported near South America (Putman 2020). NASA reported that 80% of Australians were exposed to poor air quality as a direct result of the fires (NASA 2020). A total of 33 people died as a direct result of the fires, including nine firefighting personnel comprising three American aircrew and three Rural Fire Service volunteer firefighters in New South Wales, and three members of Forest Fire Management Victoria (Davey and Sarre 2020). According to the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements Report:

Many Australians were impacted, directly or indirectly, by the fires. Tragically, 33 people died and extensive smoke coverage across much of eastern Australia may have caused many more deaths. Over 3,000 homes were destroyed. Estimates of the national financial impacts are over $10 billion. Nearly three billion animals were killed or displaced and many threatened species and other ecological communities were extensively harmed.

A total of 10.3 million hectares in southern and eastern Australia were affected by fire to the end of April 2020, of which 8.5 million hectares (82%) was forest comprising 8.3 million hectares of native forest, 130 thousand hectares of commercial plantation and 22 thousand hectares of other forest (ABARES 2020). Fire extent and severity data between July 2019 and June 2020 can be derived from the Australian Google Earth Engine Burnt Area Map (DCCEEW 2022).

The national extent of areas affected by fire between 1 July 2019 and 22 June 2020 is shown in Figure 3.1b-6. This shows a typical fire season in northern Australia plus the atypical fire season in southern and eastern Australia. Relative to historical bushfires, the spatial extent and severity of the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 is consistent with the progressive influence of climate change on bushfire regimes globally (Lindenmayer et al. 2023).

The long-term impacts of the 2019-20 bushfires on biodiversity outcomes are not yet known. However, the area burnt overlaps with substantial proportions of the ranges of a number of threatened and migratory species, some of which are listed as Critically Endangered, including the Regent Honeyeater (Anthochaera phrygia), Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor), northern (Pseudophryne pengilleyi) and southern corroboree frog (P. corroboree), Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis), Bago leek-orchid (Prasophyllum bagoense) and Brandy Marys leek-orchid (P. innubum) (Ward et al. 2020; DEE 2020). The fires on Kangaroo Island occurred across 89% of the range of Kangaroo Island Southern Emu-wren (Stipiturus malachurus halmaturinus) and 69% of the range of the Glossy Black-cockatoo (Kangaroo Island) (Calyptorhynchus lathami halmaturinus) (DAWE 2020). The Kangaroo Island dunnart (Sminthopsis aitkeni) had 96% of its range burnt at high severity (DAWE 2020).

The Australian Government invested $200 million in the emergency response and to support the recovery of ecosystems and threatened species after the 2019-20 bushfires. A list of species and threatened ecological communities prioritised for urgent management intervention (92 vertebrate fauna, 213 invertebrates, 486 flora, and 19 threatened ecological communities) was developed by an expert panel to target recovery actions. Recovery actions include installing nest boxes, targeted pest and weed control, and erosion control. For example, on Kangaroo Island work to promote the recovery of the Kangaroo Island dunnart includes feral cat control, fencing of critical areas and habitat restoration.

In Australia, state and territory governments have primary responsibility for the protection of life, property and the environment. New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory conducted inquiries into the 2019-20 bushfires. At the national level, a senate inquiry and the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements were established, with the Royal Commission making recommendations on reforms and actions required to enable state and territory governments to be better prepared for future emergencies. Australian Government responses included:

• establishing the National Emergency Management Agency to coordinate and manage national-level emergency responses
• funding research to address the major challenges arising from natural hazards, including bushfires, floods, cyclones, heatwaves and storms
• establishing the Wildlife and Threatened Species Bushfire Recovery Expert Panel to provide scientific input and contribute to the assessment of fire impacts on animals, plants, ecological communities and other natural assets, and to identify priority species and recovery actions.

In Victoria, the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments undertook a Major Event Review to assess the impacts of the fires and identify remedial actions to address the impact of the 2019-20 bushfires in relation to Regional Forest Agreement Regions.

ABARES (2020). Forest fire area data for the 2019–20 summer bushfire season in southern and eastern Australia, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra. CC BY 4.0.

ABARES (2023). Forests of Australia (2023), Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra, December. CC BY 4.0. doi.org/10.25814/6cay-a361

Australian Government (2020). Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements Report, Canberra, October 2020.

Davey SM and Sarre A (2020). Editorial: the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires, Australian Forestry 83:2, 47-51. doi.org/10.1080/00049158.2020.1769899

DAWE (Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment) (2020). Kangaroo Island regional bushfire recovery workshop report: Summary of outcomes from the regional co-design workshop – 18 August 2020, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Canberra, February.

DCCEEW (Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water) (2022). AUS GEEBAM Fire Severity Dataset (2019-2020), Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Canberra. CC BY 3.0.

DEE (Department of the Environment and Energy) (2020). Analysis of species listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 which occur in areas affected by bushfires between 1 August 2019 and 13 January 2020 in southern and eastern Australia, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra, January 2020.

Lindenmayer D, Taylor C, Blanchard W, Zylstra P and Evans M J (2023). What environmental and climatic factors influence multidecadal fire frequency? Ecosphere 3;14:e4610, doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4610

MIG and NFISC (Montreal Process Implementation Group for Australia and National Forest Inventory Steering Committee) (2018). Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2018, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra, December. CC BY 4.0.

NASA (2020). Studying the 2019-2020 Australian Bushfires Using NASA Data. In partnership between NASA Langley Research Center's Atmospheric Science Data Center, Science Directorate, & the NASA Disasters Program. Accessed 02 February 2024.

Putman W (2020). Global transport of Australian bushfire smoke. Greenbelt (MD): NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre. Accessed 15 November 2023.

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