Emergency warnings for bushfires burning near Darwin have been downgraded as fire crews battle to prevent the further spread of fire.

Scorched earth and burned toys show just how close a family's home came to destruction during rural Darwin's bushfire emergency.

The country's top emergency officials today warned of the dangers of the impending bushfire season, but despite all the uniforms, the stern tone and sincerity of the warnings, many of us won't take action.

More than 16 years on from the bushfires that killed four people and destroyed hundreds of homes, the ACT Rural Fire Service warns the community is becoming "complacent" as memories of the territory's darkest day fade.

Firefighting experts and senior scientists tell Background Briefing they're concerned the Federal Government is refusing to guarantee funding for the only national research body for bushfires beyond 2021.

A decade of dry conditions and lower rainfall has left parts of northern Australia facing an early and "above normal" bushfire risk in parts of northern Queensland and the Northern Territory.

A fast-moving bushfire is contained after burning down a property and threatening several more in a rural area west of Cooktown in Cape York.

The Queensland Rural Fire Service says weather conditions indicate there will be an extreme to locally catastrophic fire danger in the Darling Downs, Granite Belt, Maranoa and Warrego today, as thick smoke hangs over the Gold Coast hinterland.

A research team is deployed in response to persistent smoke from a bushfire that has been burning for nearly two months in underground peat on the NSW Mid North Coast.

More than 50 bushfires are burning in Queensland amid potentially catastrophic, hot and windy conditions. Emergency warnings are in place for fires near Stanthorpe in the state's south.

An incredible show of community spirit brings locals together in the Gold Coast Hinterland with dozens of Canungra residents rescuing animals from the fire front at nearby Binna Burra.

Crews are battling 57 fires across Queensland including one that is out of control on the Gold Coast hinterland, with the QFES declaring the "unprecedented" blazes are just the start of a very severe fire season.

Queenslanders recall the nights in the 60s spent dancing in the hall of the Binna Burra Lodge the same place where hundreds of others have married the love of their life after fire guts the heritage-listed resort.

Authorities and families are on high alert as homes are lost across the state with dozens of fires burning in places including the Gold Coast hinterland at Binna Burra, and Stanthorpe and Applethorpe on the Granite Belt.

A singed and injured koala and her joey, who have become a symbol of hope and resilience amid Queensland's bushfire emergency, are slowly recovering in a Brisbane wildlife hospital.

Alarming footage shows high winds driving a large bushfire overnight on the Sunshine Coast, where 10 homes have been lost at Peregian Springs and Peregian Beach.

Police are speaking to a number of teenagers over a fire that damaged homes at Peregian Beach overnight, as authorities continue to battle a blaze threatening large areas of the Sunshine Coast. See how events unfolded in our live blog.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is returning early from a trip to Switzerland because of the ongoing bushfire threat, with more than 80 fires burning across the state and a blaze at Peregian on the Sunshine Coast that is still out of control.

Images from the scene of Queensland's recent bushfires capture the devastation as scores of fires sweep across the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast hinterland and the Granite Belt.

As bushfires continue across south-east Queensland, doubt is cast over this year's Riverfire event in Brisbane and whether fireworks have a place in today's society.

The high temperatures and winds that have fanned severe bushfires in southern Queensland ease on Wednesday, but some communities need to stay alert with about 70 blazes still burning. Despite the reprieve, conditions are expected to worsen again on Friday.

After fires tore through parts of Queensland in an earlier-than-expected bushfire season, emergency services are warning of the growing threat to suburban backyards as the weather gets hotter and drier.

A large bushfire that has claimed 11 properties in the Gold Coast hinterland as well as historic Binna Burra Lodge could have been deliberately lit, Queensland's Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll says.

An investigation is underway after two police officers fired their weapons during the dramatic arrest of a 53-year-old man suspected of lighting up to four fires in north Queensland.

Visitor numbers plummet on the Gold Coast hinterland and Scenic Rim after devastating bushfires razed parts of the regions earlier this month a double tragedy for local businesses.

Fire conditions are forecast to worsen again on Friday and Saturday when a dry wind is expected to blow across parts of southern Queensland, raising the fire danger rating from "high" to "very high".

Fire-weary residents at Sarabah in Queensland's Scenic Rim get a reprieve as authorities downgrade the bushfire warning level in the area, but conditions are expected to worsen in southern Queensland on Saturday.

The rate of deliberately lit fires escalates rapidly during the school holiday period, according to an expert in arson investigations, as Queensland authorities reveal action has been taken against 21 juveniles and nine adults in recent weeks.

Volunteer firefighters in central Queensland say the bureaucracy involved in fighting a bushfire has reached dangerous levels.

Fewer cyclones are forecast but the Bureau of Meteorology warns a "pretty dangerous cocktail" is brewing for the remainder of Queensland's fire season.

MORNING BRIEFING: A bushfire that threatened homes near Newcastle last night is brought under control, and nine detainees at a juvenile detention centre are charged over a June riot.

MORNING BRIEFING: Dozens of firefighters from South Australia head to New South Wales as back-up for weary RFS workers, and two people are fined after a banner is hung from the Harbour Bridge.

How do you fight fires in a state that is 98 per cent in drought and short on water? It's a question being pondered by firefighters on the verge of fire season.

At least two houses and two businesses are destroyed in Tenterfield in northern NSW and a firefighter is suffering facial burns as crews brace for a long night ahead with four fires burning at emergency level across the state.

23 January 2020

23 January 2020

23 January 2020

The proceeds of the match will help victims of the blazes which began in September and have left at least 33 people dead and thousands of homes destroyed.

NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean says Australia must stop making climate change a matter of religion and instead make it a matter of science as unprecedented bushfires burn across the state.

Thousands gathered in Sydney to demand climate change action in the midst of a devastating bushfire season.

Some predators, including red foxes, move into burnt areas after fires pass through. But what about other predators?

Social media experts have warned of a "disinformation campaign" aimed at creating a false narrative of arson being solely responsible for the Australian bushfire emergency.

This season's bushfires have "rewritten the rule book" as ecologists fear more than 80 per cent of the world heritage-listed Blue Mountains have been lost.