These conditions have meant that fire risk has been extremely high - and one small spark has the potential to grow into a raging bushfire.

The 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria were also preceded by extreme fire danger conditions: a decade-long drought and a number of record hot years, all compounded by a heatwave in the week prior. The ferocity of these fires was unprecedented, and so severe were they that they broke the record for the Forest Fire Danger Index, and a new category - ''catastrophic'' or ''code red'' - was added.

Worryingly, since 2009, we have experienced more days of ''catastrophic'' fire danger, and this number will very likely increase in the future. Fire frequency and intensity is also predicted to increase in already fire-prone areas - areas in which a large proportion of the Australian population lives.

We are now also seeing the season of bushfire weather lengthening from October to March, and this will continue to extend in future. This means that there will be less opportunity to conduct hazard reduction burning safely.

Protecting life, property, and other assets will become more difficult as Australia's climate continues to change. Emergency services will be put under significant strain to meet this rising demand, and it has been estimated that by 2030, the number of professional firefighters will need to be more than double that in 2010, if we are to keep up with the increase in fire danger weather, alongside population and asset growth.