60% have home and contents insurance
Australia bushfire statistics
Every bushfire season is different, but there has been a general increase to the severity of the bushfire seasons that Australia experiences.
Key takeaways
- Australia's bushfire seasons are worsening; in NSW alone, the 2019-2020 season saw 5.5 million hectares burnt and 2,476 homes destroyed.
- Given 41% worry about bushfires and 48% worry about bushfires or floods, review your home and contents and life insurance for full protection.
- Ensure your car insurance especially for bushfire prone areas includes fire cover like comprehensive policies.
Severity of Australian bushfire seasons over time
Any bushfire event can be terrible for those affected, but there's been a definite movement upwards in the severity of Australia's bushfire seasons. The below table charts the severity of NSW bushfire seasons from 2002-03 to 2020-21, according to the Annual Reports of the NSW Rural Fire Service. This doesn't capture every bushfire season, but the general trend up certainly holds across the country.
Note that the 2019-2020 bushfire season in NSW was much more severe than anything Australia has ever seen before - more on that later.
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.
Source: Global Forest Watch: Fires Australia
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 were incinerated, and the smoke from the fires caused air pollution issues as far as South America and Antarctica.
Just look at the amount of tree cover lost in 2019 and 2020 compared to other years in the below data from Global Forest Watch. 2019 and 2020 saw a massive spike in the amount of fire-related tree loss, around 10 times as much as previous seasons.
Tree loss from bushfire in Australia (hectares)
The number of hectares of tree cover lost in Australia from fire and overall. The percentage of fire losses are typically north of 50%. However, in 2019 and 2020 the amount of tree cover lost spiked dramatically, with around 3.5 million hectares of tree cover lost to fire.
Of course, these weren't the only impact of the 2019-2020 bushfires. According to the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) the 2019–20 Black Summer fires:
- Burnt 5.5 million hectares of land across NSW
- Displaced 3 billion vertebrate animals across south-east Australia
- Generated 50% more thunderstorms than ever recorded (since 1978)
While the Black Summer fires were the worst on record, the world has had a lot of record breaking weather events in recent decades. Aside from the danger of climate change, the best lesson we can learn from it might be that it could happen again, and to be well prepared.
How worried are Australians about bushfires and floods?
We run a nationally representative survey each month, the Finder Consumer Sentiment Tracker.
| 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
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 your home out of the way, after all! However, car insurance and life insurance are both important products Aussies 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.
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 your family with support.
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