Bushfires are classified as what type of natural hazard

English Spanish French. Fires Wildfires occur when vegetated areas are set alight and are particularly common during hot and dry periods.

View more Fire products. Related Charter Activations. Web Content Display. Activations on map. Fires of human origin currently account for the remainder and are classified as accidental or deliberate. Fires lit deliberately can be the result of arson or might be designed to achieve a beneficial outcome but conditions have changed, resulting in uncontrollable spread.

Unfortunately deliberate and accidentally lit fires are more prevalent near populated areas and have a disproportionately higher risk of infrastructure impact. Arsonists place people and property at serious and unnecessary risk, particularly when igniting fires on extreme fire weather days.

The Australian climate is generally hot, dry and prone to drought. At any time of the year, some parts of Australia are prone to bushfires. The widely varied fire seasons are reflected in the continent's different weather patterns. For most of southern Australia, the danger period is summer and autumn. For New South Wales and southern Queensland, the peak risk usually occurs in spring and early summer.

The Northern Territory experiences most of its fires in winter and spring. Grassland fires frequently occur after good periods of rainfall which result in abundant growth that dries out in hot weather. Bushfires tend to occur when light and heavy fuel loads in Eucalypt forests have dried out, usually following periods of low rainfall.

The potential for extreme fire weather varies greatly throughout Australia, both in frequency and severity. When potential extreme fire weather is experienced close to populated areas, significant loss is possible.

In terms of the total area burnt, the largest fires are in the Northern Territory and northern areas of Western Australia and Queensland. Most loss of life and economic damage occurs around the fringes of cities where homes are commonly in close proximity to flammable vegetation. A comparison of disaster cost estimates in Australia.

International J of DRR. Report with AGD. Geoscience Australia is committed to support Australia's capability to managing the impact of natural hazards, including bushfire. Geoscience Australia:. In general, wildfires are caused by a mixture of factors such as high temperatures, drought conditions following a period of vegetation growth and a trigger which can be natural such as lightning or human influenced such as arson. El Nino is thought to have an effect on the occurrence of wildfire cases.

Due to El Nino tropical countries on the western pacific experience a higher risk due to the enhanced dry season. In September Malaysia and Indonesia were affected by major wildfires, there were bush fires in Australia in late and early and forest fires in Borneo during April , all of which are thought to be due to the prevailing El Nino. Except for Antarctica no continent is free from the threat of wildfires.

As a result, the average wildfire season is three and a half months longer than it was a few decades ago, and the number of annual large fires in the West has tripled. As rising greenhouse gas emissions are increasing droughts and heat, more catastrophic wildfires are expected in the years to come, especially with the fire seasons getting longer. Climate change and disasters. Wildfire is the general umbrella term, whereas the term bushfire refers to an uncontrollable fire in bushland.

In simple terms, you can specifically refer to the type of wildfire depending on the vegetation present. Factors like living conditions and poverty, government capacity to prepare and respond, as well as the process of rebuilding and how efficient that would be, are all factors that will define whether a disaster occurs as a result of the natural hazard.

Why disasters are not natural. Bushfires tend to occur when light and heavy fuel loads in Eucalypt forests have dried out, usually following periods of low rainfall. Source: CNN. The Saffir-Simpson wind scale is used to classify Atlantic hurricanes into 5 categories. Learn what that means. Powerful earthquakes and landslides can be very deadly.