Quantifying and predicting bushfire risk following large-scale drought-induced vegetation die-off

Large areas of temperate Australia, including Southwestern Australia, parts of South Australia and Tasmania, experienced significant, widespread and severe heatwave and drought-induced vegetation die-off in 2024. However, how the bushfire risk has been altered as a result is unknown – this is a clear and critical gap in knowledge.

This project aims to understand the impacts of heatwave and drought on bushfire disaster risk by:

1. quantifying fuel characteristics for the range of vegetation types affected by vegetation die-off across southwestern Australia
2. calculating potential fire behaviour
3. identifying the interactions between climate change and bushfire risk by utilising remote sensing and heatwave/drought die-off research sites to project future die-off and bushfire risk.