On 1 September 2022, the new Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) will go live across Australia. The new national system has four levels – Moderate, High, Extreme and Catastrophic – and is supported by action-oriented messages to encourage people to take action to protect themselves and others in the face of bushfire risks.
The AFDRS also introduces a new Fire Behaviour Index – a scale of fire danger that takes the latest in fire science and produces outputs across eight different fire behaviour models (compared to the existing two fire behaviour models) to support decisions about fire preparedness and bushfire suppression. As a critical tool used for emergency management planning for government agencies, an AFDRS training module has been developed to ensure all staff across the public sector understand the new system and how it is used to protect staff and community.