An unprecedented outbreak of large, intense fires stretched from the mid-north coast of New South Wales into central Queensland.
Researchers at Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment have analysed historic data on the extent of Australia’s extraordinary forest fires and found that the area burned in Australia during the 2019-2020 forest fires far exceeds historic records worldwide.
Even in previous major fire years, only around two per cent of Australia’s temperate forests have burned. Yet in the summer of 2019/2020, an astounding 21 per cent of these forests have been burned, a figure far and above preceding historic records.
“We analysed the major forest biomes across Australia, Asia, Africa, Oceania and North and South Americas to determine the extent of annual areas burned by forest fires”, said Associate Professor Matthias Boer, lead author of the study and lead scientist of the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub node at Western Sydney University.
“Forests in Australia and other continents have historically burned up to approximately 5% of the forest area each year, with higher percentages of 8-9% only recorded in small forest regions of Africa and Asia. Yet in Australia’s 2019/2020 season, this burned area jumped to 21% of the total forest area in a single season.
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