Australia braces for its own fire season after sweltering European summer

Australian firefighters are on alert as the southern hemisphere warms, after an exceptionally hot European summer left vegetation tinder-dry and helped fuel severe wildfires.

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We’re concerned this year that we’ll see increased fire risk (versus) prior years.

Australia is already experiencing a strong El Niño weather event. The pattern typically brings hotter, drier conditions and a higher risk of bushfires. Trent Curtin, head of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, said officials were concerned about increased fire risk compared with previous years.

“We’re seeing some extraordinary conditions in the northern hemisphere at the moment,” Curtin said. “They’re experiencing fires that they haven’t seen for a couple of decades or maybe never seen before.” Britain recorded its hottest summer since records began, while Italy experienced its warmest summer in 75 years.

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We’re seeing some extraordinary conditions in the northern hemisphere at the moment.

Australia’s own history includes the 2019 to 2020 Black Summer fires, which destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people. Authorities use hazard-reduction burns to clear sections of forest in controlled conditions and limit the spread of potential wildfires.

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They’re experiencing fires that they haven’t seen for a couple of decades or maybe never seen before.

During a controlled burn about three hours north of Sydney, Alex Capararo of the Forestry Corporation of New South Wales said officials were “alert but not alarmed.” He said the seasonal outlook pointed to a busier-than-usual fire season, with dry and hot conditions expected. The Bureau of Meteorology says peak fire danger season usually begins in mid-October in northern New South Wales and in December in the state’s southern areas.

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For this year we’re alert but not alarmed.