How February 2020 Rain Helped Put Out the NSW Bushfires

Originally published 2020-02-15.

In early February 2020, after months of drought and fire, heavy rain finally reached the fire grounds of New South Wales. In a single day about a third of the state's active bushfires went out, the biggest one-day drop of the season, and on 13 February the NSW Rural Fire Service declared every fire in the state contained for the first time since the crisis began.

What the rain did

The downpour arrived around 6 and 7 February 2020 across eastern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. According to reporting at the time, drawing on Sydney Morning Herald figures, around 20 fires were extinguished in one day, leaving 42 still burning along the coast. Only two of those were rated above the "low-moderate" level, and it was the largest single-day fall in active fire numbers since the season started.

It is worth being precise. The "one-third" figure refers to fires active in NSW at that moment, not to every fire in Australia, and the AP noted that 17 of the 42 remaining fires were still uncontained. The rain was a turning point, not an instant end.

So nice listening to rain falling last night & driving with windscreen wipers on for a change this morning. @BOM_NSW indicates continued rain this next week & importantly, falls across our fire areas which will be so welcomed by our farmers, fire fighters & all affected. #NSWRFS pic.twitter.com/gJ3aFRQlzF

— Shane Fitzsimmons (@RFSCommissioner) February 6, 2020

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons shared his relief at hearing rain overnight and driving with the wipers on for a change, noting that the Bureau of Meteorology expected more falls over the fire areas in the following week. Speaking to reporters, he called the rain "really good for quenching some of these fires" that had burned for months, while hoping it would not cause widespread flood damage.

Why this rain mattered so much: the Black Summer

The 2019–20 fire season, now remembered in Australia as the Black Summer, was one of the worst on record. Nationally, about 24 million hectares burned, 33 people died directly from the fires and more than 3,000 buildings were destroyed. Smoke was later linked to an additional 417 deaths. Scientists estimated that around three billion animals, mostly reptiles, were killed or displaced.

New South Wales was hit hardest. It recorded more than 11,000 fires, about six percent of the state burned, a state of emergency was declared in December 2019, and more than four million hectares burned in the state's largest fire complexes. By mid-February, 25 people had died in NSW and close to 2,500 homes had been lost.

Behind it all lay drought. In 2019–20 drought affected roughly 95 percent of New South Wales, after several dry years in a row. Combined with record heat, it left forests and grasslands so dry that fires spread faster and burned longer than many crews had ever seen. That is why a few days of soaking rain meant so much to firefighters, farmers and communities who had been living under smoke since spring.

Sydney's wettest days in years

Sydney had its wettest day in about 15 months, and its first day with more than 100 millimetres of rain since November 2018, as The Guardian reported at the time. Over the following weekend the totals kept climbing, and the four-day period became the city's wettest since 1990. Forecasters warned that some coastal areas could see up to 350 millimetres more.

It was fantastic to wake up to much-needed rain this morning!

Today has already been the wettest Sydney day in 15 months, and thankfully it’s raining across NSW where we need it most. https://t.co/FsBxow8Zuv

— Clover Moore (@CloverMoore) February 7, 2020

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore was among many locals who celebrated waking up to rain, pointing out that it was falling across NSW where it was needed most.

The NSW Rural Fire Service's own Facebook update from the same period, as rain began to reach the fire grounds.

Rain brings its own dangers

The same storms that helped crews also caused flash flooding. Flood warnings covered much of the NSW coast, roads were cut, and authorities rescued several people stranded by floodwater in the first days alone. More than 1,200 firefighters used the break to strengthen containment lines while their services prepared for flood calls at the same time.

Burned landscapes are especially vulnerable. With vegetation gone, heavy rain runs off quickly, carrying ash, soil and debris into rivers and reservoirs and raising the risk of landslips and water quality problems. That is why emergency services routinely tell people to stay out of floodwater and to take care in burned bushland, where weakened trees can fall.

Video coverage of the rain's arrival on the fire grounds and the relief it brought.

13 February: every fire in NSW contained

A week after the first heavy falls, the RFS confirmed the news many had waited months to hear. Assistant Commissioner Rob Rogers announced that "all fires are now contained in NSW", the first time that season, although some fires were still burning within their containment lines in the far south. The rain had helped put out more than 30 fires over that period, including the long-running Currowan, Morton and Gospers Mountain blazes.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian described the season as "the most devastating natural disaster in living memory". The last fires in the state were extinguished by early March 2020.

What the story teaches

Rain did not "save" Australia on its own. Months of work by volunteer and professional crews, aircraft, back-burning and community effort held the fires back until the weather changed. The rain gave them the break they needed to finish the job.

The season also left lasting lessons. Australia held a Royal Commission into its natural disaster arrangements, and fire services continue to stress preparation. If you live in a fire-prone area anywhere in the world:

• Make a written bushfire survival plan and agree on it with your household.
• Follow official warnings from your fire service (in NSW, the RFS website and Fires Near Me app).
• Remember that after fire comes flood risk: never drive through floodwater, and avoid recently burned slopes in heavy rain.

For everyone who lived through that summer, the sound of steady rain on the roof in February 2020 was one of the best sounds they had ever heard.

Sources: Good News Network (McKinley Corbley), February 2020, citing the Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian; AP via PBS NewsHour: Heavy rain, floods lash eastern Australia, help with fires; Pedestrian.tv, 13 February 2020: All NSW bushfires contained; Wikipedia: 2019–20 Australian bushfire season.