Future fire events are likely to be worse than climate projections indicate – these are some of the reasons why

Abstract

Background Climate projections signal longer fire seasons and an increase in the number of dangerous fire weather days for much of the world including Australia. Aims Here we argue that heatwaves, dynamic fire–atmosphere interactions and increased fuel availability caused by drought will amplify potential fire behaviour well beyond projections based on calculations of afternoon forest fire danger derived from climate models. Methods We review meteorological dynamics contributing to enhanced fire behaviour during heatwaves, drawing on examples of dynamical processes driving fire behaviour during the Australian Black Summer bushfires of 2019–20. Results Key dynamical processes identified include: nocturnal low-level jets, deep, unstable planetary boundary layers and fire–atmosphere coupling. Conclusions The future scenario we contend is long windows of multi-day fire events where overnight suppression is less effective and fire perimeters will expand continuously and aggressively over multiple days and nights. Implications Greater overnight fire activity and multi-day events present strategic and tactical challenges for fire management agencies including having to expand resourcing for overnight work, manage personnel fatigue and revise training to identify conditions conducive to unusually active fire behaviour overnight. Effective messaging will be critical to minimise accidental fire ignition during heatwaves and to alert the community to the changing fire environment