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How worried are Australians about bushfires and floods?
Are you worried about the risk of bushfires or floods this coming summer season?
No, neither
52%
Yes, bushfires
21%
Yes, both
20%
Yes, floods
7%
Source: Finder Consumer Sentiment Tracker survey of 1,062 Australians, October 2023
Severity of Australian bushfire seasons over time
Every bushfire season is different, but there has been a general movement upwards in the severity of the bushfire seasons that Australia experiences. The below graphs chart the severity of NSW bushfire seasons over the last 20 years, according to the Annual Reports of the NSW Rural Fire Service. Other states will absolutely have varying levels of severity, and we will update this page over time to reflect that.
Note that some of these graphs end up looking slightly off. This is because the 2019-2020 bushfire seasons was just so much more severe than anything Australia has ever seen before.
Weekly fire alerts in Australia
Australia's bushfire season normally starts around August, and can run all the way through to Autumn, as late as March or April. One way of understanding how bad a given fire season will be is to look at the number of weekly fire alerts. The graph below comes from Global Forest Watch, and tracks this number.
Black Summer: Australia's 2019-2020 Bushfire season statistics
The 2019-2020 bushfire season was probably the worst in living memory. Unprecedented areas of bush was incinerated, and the smoke from the fires caused air pollution issues as far as South America and Antarctica. Here are some key statistics on the black summer bushfire season.
How many Australians are insured against bushfire?
There are a few insurance products that are useful in protection against bushfire. The main one is home and contents insurance - you can't move you home out of the way, after all! However, car insurance and life insurance are both important products Aussie use to protect themselves.
Home and contents insurance
Home and contents protects exactly what it says on the tin. People that are in bushfire prone areas are likely to need coverage for their biggest asset and their personal belongings. However, not all Australians are as well covered as they should be.
60% have home and contents insurance
Car insurance
Cars can go up in flames just as easily as homes. However, Third Party Property car insurance will not cover fire. Despite that, it's a very commonly held product. People in bushfire prone areas should consider either Third Party Fire and Theft or Comprehensive car insurance.
Life insurance
It might be a bit grim to think about, but life insurance can also be really important for Aussies looking to cover themselves for bushfire. If the worst were to happen, life insurance can pay your debts and leave you family with support.
Tim Bennett is a Finder insurance expert. For over 10 years he's reported on news, politics, finance and other topics as a journalist and radio presenter. Tim's roles have included radio news reader and breakfast at the ABC, news producer for SBS and producer for Fairfax Media. Tim regularly appears as a health insurance expert on programs like Sunrise and SBS news, as well as in the Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail and more.
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