Millions at Risk of Los Angeles-Style Wildfires in Australia

Millions of people living on the expanding outskirts of Australia’s major cities face an increasing risk of urban wildfires similar to the deadly blazes in Los Angeles last year.

Suburbs on the fringes of centers including Sydney, Melbourne and Perth now house at least 6.9 million inhabitants and, like regions impacted in LA, have residential areas where homes adjoin highly flammable grasslands, according to a report published Tuesday by the Climate Council think tank and a group of former Australian fire chiefs.

“Nearly every Australian capital city has a dangerous mix of preconditions for a catastrophic fire like LA — the possibility of extreme dry periods, severe winds, steep slopes, bushland near homes and a history of destructive fires,” said Greg Mullins, a former New South Wales Fire Commissioner who has also worked with authorities in the US.

Blazes in January 2025 in Los Angeles County killed 31 people and rank as the world’s costliest wildfires, with estimated insured losses of $40 billion, according to Swiss Re. Factors that contributed to the devastation — erratic weather fueled by the impacts of climate change, and the expansion of new homes near the urban fringe — are also in place across Australia, the Climate Council report said.

Australian authorities need to act faster to phase out polluting fossil fuels and also lift investment in disaster preparation and resilience, according to the report. The country has a long history of deadly wildfires, and the 2019-2020 Black Summer blazes killed 33 people and burned through 24 million hectares (59 million acres).

“It’s critical that we deal with the cause of more extreme weather by drastically cutting climate pollution while properly resourcing fire and land management agencies, and preparing suburban communities for rising risks,” said Mullins, who is also founder of the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action group.

Photograph: Homes destroyed by the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, on Jan. 15, 2025. Photo credit: Jill Connelly/Bloomberg