An inaugural report from Australia's most 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 (NAFI) service, based out of Charles Darwin University (CDU) recently released its first - and from now annual - Fire Year Summary Report for 2025, detailing fire activity across Australia.
NAFI's burnt area mapping covers 80 per cent of Australia, capturing ~97 per cent 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 29.6 million hectares burnt, followed by 19 million hectares in Western Australia and 14.3 million hectares in Queensland.
Most fires in these jurisdictions occurred in October.
There were multiple "Terra" scale fire events, or fires the burnt more than 1 million hectares, with the largest in the Northern Territory's Tanami Desert.
The 3.5-million-hectare fire burned for 28 days in October and November and was caused by ignitions from a dry lightning storm.
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."
In the last quarter, the Northern Territory, particularly in the Top End, has experienced extensive and near unprecedented rainfall.
In the last quarter much of the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland have experienced extensive and near-unprecedented rainfall.
Notable figures from the Bureau of Meteorology data 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 has increased fuel load across much of Australia.
"The most fire-prone areas are the northern savannas, but they're also the most intensely managed," Dr Fisher said.
"Whilst 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 extensive 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.
