Extensive fires in Australia’s northern spinifex deserts – investigating the 2023 ‘Black Spring’ and the influence of indigenous fire management

Rohan Fisher; Sarah Legge; Gareth Catt; Hannah Cliff

doi:10.1071/WF25002

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Next Contents Vol 34(8)

Extensive fires in Australia’s northern spinifex deserts – investigating the 2023 ‘Black Spring’ and the influence of indigenous fire management

Rohan Fisher ^A , Sarah Legge ^B ^C ^D ^* , Gareth Catt ^D and Hannah Cliff ^D

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, NT 0810, Australia.

^B Research Institute of Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, NT 0810, Australia.

^C Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia.

^D Indigenous Desert Alliance, 587 Newcastle Street, West Perth, WA 6005, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: SarahMariaLegge@gmail.com

International Journal of Wildland Fire 34, WF25002 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF25002

Submitted: 3 January 2025 Accepted: 9 July 2025 Published: 8 August 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Background

Climate change is increasing the incidence of extensive, severe fires in some regions. Extensive fires affected forested regions of Australia in 2019–2020 (Black Summer fires), attracting global attention. Australian deserts have experienced extensive fires for decades, following interruptions to traditional burning practices of Indigenous people. Unlike the Black Summer fires, desert fires receive little public attention.

Aims

We report the extent and spread of fire in Australia’s northern spinifex deserts in 2023, a year of extensive desert fire. Using two case studies, we also explore whether large-scale fire management programs by Indigenous rangers influenced these fires.

Methods

We used satellite imagery to collate fire extent and spread information across three northern spinifex desert bioregions (712,000 km²).

Key results

In 2023, 294,393 km² (41.2%; versus annual average of 15%) burned, mostly in spring (September–November), following high rainfall. Fires sometimes spread rapidly, covering >25,000 km² in 5 days. Where large-scale fire management had occurred, fire spread was interrupted by areas burnt previously in prescribed fires.

Conclusions

The deserts are prone to extensive fires after high rainfall, but large-scale fire management affects how fires spread.

Implications

Large-scale desert fire management is relatively recent but shows promise for limiting the size and impacts of desert fires.

Keywords: desert fire, fire management, indigenous ranger, megafire, satellite imagery, spinifex desert, wildfire.

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