Funding for a fire mapping service across the top half of Australia is due to end on 30 June, with this week’s Federal election highlighting the uncertainty around continuation of funds beyond that date.

The Northern Australia Fire Information Service (NAFI) provides satellite derived fire mapping data for fire managers and the agricultural sector across the North – in Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland. The main fire season in the North of Australia typically begins around now and lasts into August or September.

The Australian Government has funded NAFI in recent years through its National Emergency Management Agency but has not committed to continued support. It’s May Federal Budget was silent on its future.

Australia goes to the polls in a Federal Election this Saturday (3 May). The Federal Opposition has pledged $2.5 million over three years if it is elected to govern, which would allow the service to continue.

The site was created by a community of fire researchers and managers in 2002 and is managed by Charles Darwin University. NAFI tracks current fires and publishes them on a map of Australia using a visual representation of ‘hotspots’. Hotspots are produced from thermal sensors on a number of different satellites including NOAA and NASA.

NAFI also produces burnt-area maps that are updated throughout the year. NAFI is the only service that provides critical fire information over the 80% (remote/regional) of Australia where 99.3% of fires occur.

The NAFI website is free for users to access and has relied on sporadic, often short-term, grant funding to survive. In addition to researchers and fire agencies, the site is an essential tool for a wide range of other land holders impacted by wildfire including pastoralists, mining, forestry, defence and other assorted carbon abatement projects.

As the North now enters its fire season, Indigenous ranger groups are working to combine traditional fire practices with live fire mapping data from NAFI.

For more information on the funding see the NAFI web service funding backgrounder.