Large bushfire in the Northern Territory’s Rop End. Image: Bushfires NT

AN inaugural report from a new comprehensive and detailed fire mapping database has found 2025 to be the second largest fire year in the past decade, driven by severe weather and storm-related ignitions.

The North Australia and Rangelands Fire Information service, based out of Charles Darwin University, recently released its first annual Fire Year Summary Report for 2025, detailing fire activity across Australia.

NAFI’s burnt area mapping covers 80 percent of Australia, capturing about 97 percent of national fire areas.

It found activity in 2025 followed expected seasonal and regional patterns, but severe late dry season conditions amplified fires in October.

The Northern Territory had the most activity with 29.6m ha burnt, followed by 19m ha in Western Australia and 14.3m ha in Queensland. Most fires in these jurisdictions occurred in October.

Top Ten Largest Fire Events Across Australia in 2025

There were multiple “Terra” scale fire events, or fires the burnt more than 1m ha, with the largest in the Northern Territory’s Tanami Desert.

The 3.5m ha fire burned for 28 days in October and November and was caused by ignitions from a dry lightning storm.

The ten largest fires in 2025 burnt 9.7m ha, accounting for 15pc of the total burnt area.

The second largest fire burnt through the Dampierland region south of Broome in the far north of Western Australia. This fire, which also started on 9 October, burnt 1.24m ha over 28 days and was initiated by a single ignition. Both fires were driven by significant preceding rainfall, which led to large, continuous fuel loads, combined with severe fire weather conditions.

Another significant event was a fire that burnt through Judbarra–Gregory National Park (NT), impacting 63pc of Australia’s fourth largest national park. The fire started on 2 August and burnt 738,462ha over 62 days. Its extent was exacerbated by significant preceding rainfall and limited fuel mitigation, resulting in a substantial build-up of continuous fuel loads.

CDU Northern Institute Senior Research Fellow Dr Rohan Fisher, who manages the mapping for the Northern Territory, said the data underscored October as being Australia’s fire season.

“Fire is a natural and important part of our landscapes – as is the management of these fires which Australians have been doing for many thousands of years,” Dr Fisher said.

“First Nations rangers, pastoralists and other land managers are on the ground through the early part of the year preparing for the September-October season and they’re using NAFI data to do so.

“NAFI is one of the most accurate, regularly updated national scale data. Possibly the most accurate and robust fire dataset at this scale available for anywhere in the world.”

Big wet season spells fire warning

In the January-March quarter, the Northern Territory, particularly in the Top End, and parts of Western Australia and Queensland have experienced extensive to near unprecedented rainfall.

Notable figures from BOM showed from January to March, the CSIRO Berrimah Station in Darwin recorded 1629mm (average is 1215mm), the Alice Springs Airport station recorded 329mm of rain (average is 120mm), and Tennant Creek 470 mm (average is 300mm).

Dr Fisher said the rain had increased fuel load across much of northern Australia.

“The most fire-prone areas are the northern savannas, but they’re also the most intensely managed,” he said.

“While these far northern landscapes experience the most fire over the last 15 years, we have seen an increase in proactive fire management led by Indigenous land managers.

“This has led to less fire overall and importantly less severe fires. The issue will be in the northern arid zones, with big rains leading to more heavy fuel loads across the deserts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.”

The NAFI Fire Year Summary Report 2025 offers insights into fire activity across the mapped jurisdictions.

The NAFI Burnt Area Metrics tool and the SMERF/NAFI dashboard also allow users to download historic mapping reports.

Source: CDU