The Summer of crisis.

Australia’s Black Summer of 2019-2020 was characterised by catastrophic bushfires. The bushfire season started in winter and was the worst on record for New South Wales in terms of its intensity, the area burned, and the number of properties lost. It was also the worst season on record for properties lost in Queensland.

The Summer of Crisis report is the first comprehensive overview of the devastating climate impacts Australians experienced this summer. It focuses on New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, because the effects of the bushfires were most severe in these areas, but we acknowledge that the bushfires affected Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.

Read the latest report from the Climate Council - “The Summer of crisis.”

No amount of hazard reduction will protect human lives, animals and properties from catastrophic fires.

Australia’s 2019-20 bushfire season is shaping up as being the worst on record. Already, New South Wales and Queensland have suffered more property damage and forest loss than in any previous fire season, with the worst fire danger period yet to come for Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.

This guide sets out the facts on hazard reduction and the role of climate change in this catastrophic bushfire season. 

“Hazard reduction is absolutely an important factor, but it is not the panacea. When you're running fires under severe, extreme or worse conditions, hazard reduction has very little effect at all on fire spread" - Shane Fitzsimmons, RFS NSW Commissioner.

Unless we address climate change and urgently reduce our emissions as part of a global effort, the window of opportunity for prescribed burning will continue to shrink. 

And as bushfire weather worsens, the effectiveness of hazard reduction will diminish – no amount of hazard reduction will protect human lives, animals and properties from catastrophic fires.

Check out the full fact sheet.