As the national science agency, CSIRO has been leading research to understand and predict the behaviour and spread of bushfires since the 1950s.
CSIRO trains and assists all state agencies in fire behaviour and prediction. Our scientists will continue to provide state fire authorities data and tools to help manage the impacts of bushfires as the risk of extreme conditions continues to grow.
CSIRO has performed post-bushfire surveillance and research in every major fire event in Australia since the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires. It provides invaluable information on how fires start, what influences their spread, and how they can be stopped. To do this, our bushfire scientists visit non-active fire zones to survey the damage and gather data to improve our understanding and prediction of future bushfire behaviour.
CSIRO is working with Indigenous fire managers to bring Indigenous and western knowledge needed to guide sustainable contemporary landscape burning strategies and partnerships across Australia.
CSIRO was the first agency internationally to link bushfire weather severity increase to climate change. As conditions become more severe, our research will be instrumental in predicting and adapting to the threats posed.
Visit our CSIROscope blog for features, news and articles about the science behind our bushfire research.
The bushfires experienced in the 2019-20 season have so far burned more than 10 million hectares of land in southern Australia, greater than the combined area burned in the Black Saturday 2009 and Ash Wednesday 1983 bushfires.
CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, has welcomed its role in delivering practical resilience measures in relation to bushfires and climate change, as the country faces continued extreme fire weather in the future.
CSIRO will provide a report to the Prime Minister on practical options for Australian governments to support and improve Australia’s climate and disaster resilience. CSIRO is working with the Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, and an Expert Advisory Panel (EAP) which he chairs.
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