Over thousands of years, fire, climate and soils have influenced the evolution of the plants and animals of this large and diverse State. The behaviours and traits of these biota and the environments that they live in are mostly adapted in some way to the continuing presence of fire. In fact many species need fire at some time in their life cycle to allow them to persist.

The knowledge and understanding of the relationship between fire and the environment gained by the Department allows it to apply fire under prescribed conditions to help maintain the biodiversity of the State and to protect life, property and community values from the damaging impacts of wildfires.

Before European settlement, fires were started by lightning or by Aboriginal people. Today, lightning fires still occur regularly, but most fires are started by people, either accidentally or deliberately. Each year we respond to more than 500 wildfires. Lightning causes about 22% of these fires; accidental causes are about 13%; deliberately lit (arson) fires account for 43%, escapes from burning operations on Departmental managed land account for less than 2%, and unknown and other causes account for 20%.

Unlike most of our native plants and animals, the towns, farms, communities and the people that occupy them cannot adapt to survive the flames and must be protected against the destructive impacts of large and intense wildfires.