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Adjunct Professor McRae has mapped and quantified the region-by-region impact of climate change and how this has affected the prevalence of fire in different parts of Australia.
With the aim of producing more accurate bushfire season predictions he has analysed decades of hotspot data and determined whether fire activity has reflected expectations.
As part of the research he identified eight regions, especially forested areas in the south-east of Australia and far southern WA, which experienced the most concerning changes. These regions are at the greatest risk of dangerous bushfire activity and will need the greatest attention moving forward.
Adjunct Professor McRae has recently developed a world-first warning system for extreme bushfires that can be an invaluable tool for firefighting services to help mitigate against destruction caused by bushfires.
The new warning system specifically looks at the environmental conditions that can lead to extreme bushfires in south-east Australia. It can provide a warning months before a fire season, by examining temperature and river flow data and determining if the coming season is likely to exhibit conditions conducive to extreme fires.