We investigate the role of stationary high pressure weather systems on surface fire weather and fire occurrence in the United Kingdom, an emerging fire prone region. We find these patterns are important for larger vegetation fires, particularly in heathland/moorland and grasslands. This demonstrates potential to improve forecasting tools for fire managers.

We report phenological variations in temperature, humidity, fuel moisture, heat content and flammability of dry heathland fuels. Live fuel moisture was found to be the most important factor influencing fire behaviour predictions. Live fuel moisture phenology must be included in models that predict fire behaviour in temperate shrubland fuels. Photograph by Claire M. Belcher.

This study examines how fire impacts small vertebrates in Triodia-mallee landscapes by altering vegetation structure. Species show varied responses to fire, with some thriving shortly after burns and others peaking decades later. Findings highlight the importance of region-specific research to improve conservation and land management strategies in fire-affected ecosystems.

We successfully estimated where and when fires occurred on four United States military installations between 1984–2023 using satellite imagery and two machine learning algorithms. The resulting fire history information can be used by local land managers, and the methodology presented can be expanded to other national defense lands.

Climate change is causing extensive fire in some regions. Extensive fires in remote areas receive little attention. In 2023, over 294,000 km² of Australia’s northern spinifex deserts (41% of the region) burned in spring, after above-average rainfall. Where large-scale Indigenous fire management has occurred since 2019, the fire spread was interrupted.

This article belongs to the collection: Fire Behaviour and Fuels Conference.

We found that at coarse time scales (weekly-monthly) the NFDRS Burning Index is moderately correlated with wildfire size in non-U.S. ecosystems. Predictive accuracy improves when combining the index with local data such as vegetation and human factors. The findings offer a roadmap for adapting the NFDRS to broader international applications.