Smarter Fire, Safer WA
The WA Government’s fire management strategy is to maintain a fuel age of less than six years since last burnt in at least 45% of the landscape across three southwest forest regions. This equates to burning approximately 200,000 hectares in the south-west on an annual basis. These burns aim to reduce bushfire risk, but science shows they are damaging biodiversity, threatening health and having little overall effect on reducing fire risk, particularly under extreme fire weather conditions.
What FaBWA Stands For
- Use prescribed burning only where it works effectively — close to human settlements, important infrastructure, assets and evacuation routes.
- End broadscale burning in biodiversity-rich forests and ecosystems.
- Combine rapid detection & suppression and targeted fire management.
- Support and promote Aboriginal fire knowledge, experience and cultural burning practices and ecologically responsible fire management.
- Protect people, property, biodiversity and health together.
When Prescribed Burning Helps — and When it Doesn’t
Helps when
- Within close proximity to human settlements, important assets and infrastructure.
- Along strategic access and evacuation routes.
- Aboriginal cultural fire practices and principles are embedded: small, cool, patchy burns led or supported by Aboriginal Elders and Traditional Custodians.
- There is a specific ecological benefit for certain flora and fauna species, habitats or ecological communities.
Harms when
- Increasingly warming and drying conditions can result in burn escapes or high severity fires causing deaths, harm and devastation to people, property, flora and wildlife.
- Done frequently or severely over large areas of remote country far from human settlements.
- Extreme fire weather overrides fuel treatments resulting in crown fire and ember storms.
- Burning can result in denser regrowth in some vegetation types which can become more flammable over time.
Burn smarter, not more.
Does Prescribed Burning Reduce Bushfire Risk?
Yes, in limited cases.
Only for a short period of time
Not in extreme fire weather.
Margaret River (2011) fire roared through areas of all fuel ages.
Counterproductive
Forests can regrow denser and more flammable within 5–10 years.
Smarter Fire Solutions for WA
Rapid detection & suppression – stop wildfires small.
Strategic asset-based burning – near towns, not remote forests.
Cultural fire practices – cool, patchy, guided by Indigenous custodians.
Non-fire tools – thinning, mulching, mechanical fuel treatments.
Early Detection & Rapid Suppression
Early detection & rapid suppression – stop wildfires when they are small.
Strategic
Strategic burning – near human settlements, important assets and infrastructure, not broadscale burning in remote areas.
Cultural fire
Cultural fire practices – cool, patchy burns, guided or supported by Aboriginal Elders and Traditional Custodians.
Ecological fire regimes
Developed to suit the requirements and tolerances of species and ecosystems to ensure their health and persistence.
Non-fire tools
Non-fire tools – creating strategic access routes and areas, thinning, mulching, mechanically reducing vegetation and organic material
Who We Are - FaBWA
FaBWA stands for Fire and Biodiversity Western Australia
Science-based and transparent.
Collaborative and reform-minded.
Committed to protecting both people and ecosystems.
We are not against prescribed burning. We call for responsible and effective reform, so WA leads the world in ecologically and culturally responsible fire management and fire risk mitigation strategies.
Voices from the Land
I watched 17 of 22 possums I was tracking perish in a so-called ‘cool burn.’ It broke my heart.
Allison DixonWildlife Biologist 
I've got grave concerns…I can't imagine any [numbats] survived…I think the majority of them are no more — I think they're now ash…I saw tree after tree on the ground. These are old habitat trees…the lifeblood of this bush, it's what our wildlife depends on.
Farmer, Bill SmartPerup Region
The smoke from autumn burns settles in our valley for weeks. It makes my children sick.
FarmerPemberton Region
Frequently Asked Questions
Prescribed burning, also referred to as planned or controlled burning, is when a pre-determined area of vegetation is intentionally lit to burn flammable material including leaves, branches, twigs, logs, grasses, shrubs and trees.
No. Cultural burning is cool, patchy, and guided by Indigenous knowledge. Southwest WA’s prescribed burns are broadscale and driven by arbitrary objectives and area targets.
It’s a global biodiversity hotspot — defined as geographical regions that have at least 1,500 vascular plant species and have lost at least 70% of their original supporting habitat. Southwest WA is characterised by plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth that are under severe threat.
Potentially, within 1 km of properties. But safety also depends on your surroundings, house building standard, materials and preparation, firefighting response, and community readiness.
Targeted asset protection, early detection, rapid suppression, Aboriginal cultural fire practices and principles, and non-fire mechanical treatments. See our solutions page.
The Choice is Ours
WA STANDS AT A CROSSROADS
Do we keep burning vast areas of the natural environment year after year, or shift to smarter, science-backed, culturally informed fire management?