The bushfires were predicted to be "fairly bleak" in parts of Australia, particularly in the east, by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) chief executive, Richard Thornton, in September 2018. Large bushfires had already burned through southern

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

during winter. The outlook for spring was of a higher likelihood of fires with a twice the normal chance of an

El Nino EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

for summer. Many parts of eastern Australia including

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, New South Wales and

Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers ...

, in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, were already in

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

. Above normal fire was also predicted for large parts of

Southern Australia The term Southern Australia is generally considered to refer to the states and territories of Australia of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. The part of Western Australia south of lati ...

and

Eastern Australia The eastern states of Australia are the states adjoining the east continental coastline of Australia. These are the mainland states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and the island state of Tasmania. The Australian Capital Territory ...

by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC. The forecast noted that Queensland had recorded the ninth driest and fourth hottest period on record from April to November.

recorded the fourth hottest period and eighth driest on record, while Victoria experiences the 13th driest and seventh hottest period on record. Authorities in New South Wales brought forward the start of the bushfire season for much of the state from October 2018 to the beginning of August 2018.

Fires by state or territory

New South Wales

;July 2018 New South Wales experienced 525 fires in the last week of July, more than twice the number from the previous year. ;August 2018 On 15 August, a bushfire near Bega burned out of inaccessible bushland and threatened properties. Another fire in

Budawang National Park Budawang National Park is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, located approximately southwest of Sydney and north of Batemans Bay. It contains part of the Budawang Mountain Range. Budawang National Park is named after Mount Budaw ...

, near

Ulladulla Ulladulla is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia in the City of Shoalhaven local government area. It is on the Princes Highway about south of Sydney, halfway between Batemans Bay to the south and Nowra to the north. Ulladulla has cl ...

, blackened and a third fire near

Nowra Nowra is a city in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-southwest of the state capital of Sydney (about as the crow flies). As of the 2021 census, Nowra has an estimated population of 22,584. Situated in th ...

destroyed outbuildings and forced residents to evacuate. A firefighter named Alan Tully died on 17 August when his helicopter crashed while combating fires near Ulladulla. A fire started near Salt Ash, north of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, on 18 August and two days later had burnt out , on 20 August 70 fires were burning around the state.

Victoria

;December 2018 On 7th December a grassfire threatened the tiny town of

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...

which is south west from Melbourne. The fire started at 11:42am and burnt at least 1,240 hectares. ;March 2019 On 1 March several fires were lit in the east of the state as the result of a band of

dry lightning A dry thunderstorm is a thunderstorm that produces thunder and lightning, but where most of its precipitation evaporates before reaching the ground. Dry lightning refers to lightning strikes occurring in this situation. Both are so common in the ...

. A bushfire in the

Bunyip State Park Bunyip State Park is a state park east of Melbourne, near the town of Gembrook, in the southern slopes of the Great Dividing Range within the Australian state of Victoria. Location and features The area was used for logging from 1898 until 19 ...

destroyed 29 houses as well as 67 outbuildings and sheds over the following two days.

Queensland

;November 2018 By 30 November, 144 bushfires were burning throughout Queensland at the end of a week where 200 fires had been battled by firefighters. High temperatures and strong winds made for difficult conditions and two houses, two cabins and 15 sheds were lost to fire with a further 14 houses damaged.

Tasmania

;January 2019 A series of bushfires started in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

from late December as a result of lightning strikes. This included The Gell River fire, Great Pine Tier fire and Riveaux Road fire which burned through a combined than 278,000 hectares of the

Southwest National Park Southwest National Park is an Australian national park located in the south-west of Tasmania, bounded by the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park to the north and the Hartz Mountains National Park to the east. It is a part of a chain of ...

from December 2018 to March 2019, occasionally through vegetation that was not fire resistant and will not regenerate. Four houses and several outbuildings were lost during the fires, including Churchill's Hut, built in the 1920s by Elias Churchill.

Western Australia

;October 2018 A bushfire, that started on 11 October, approximately south east of Broome burned through an area of . Adverse conditions, the remote location and a lack of water meant that the fire was fought using back-burning, constructing fire lines and using aircraft. ;January 2019 In mid-January, south western Australia experienced a major heatwave that triggered a large fire in

Collie Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Many ...

on 21 January, putting most of Collie at risk. The fire was extinguished the next day. About was burnt out and four firefighters were hospitalised. ;February 2019 On 7 February, a large bushfire started in the Forrestdale Lake nature reserve in Forrestdale that put the suburbs of Forrestdale,

Harrisdale Harrisdale is a southeastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia and is one of the western suburbs of the City of Armadale. It was gazetted in 2007, and has a population of 9,076 as of the 2016 Australian census. The population of the developing a ...

and Piara Waters under an emergency warning. Over was burned out with many vehicles and one home being destroyed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Australian bushfire season Bushfire seasons in Australia Australian bushfire season Australian bushfire season 2018 disasters in Australia 2019 disasters in Australia 2018 fires in Oceania 2019 fires in Oceania