Mullins said brush fires became “urban conflagrations”, spreading sometimes kilometres away from bushland. This refers to when wildfires spread beyond natural barriers and through communities.

Satellite imagery shows part of the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, before and after the Palisades fire. Source: Getty / Maxar Technologies

“This is an unprecedented thing — and we know that it’s driven by climate change.”

He warned that parts of Sydney are at risk, along with the Dandenongs near Melbourne, the outer areas of Brisbane, and the Perth Hills and Adelaide Hills regions.

Similar fire event in Australia ‘inevitable’, researchers say

“Research shows that the frequency and severity of fire weather has risen in recent decades and is expected to continue. Fire seasons are also becoming longer,” he said.

“Strictly speaking, it has never happened in Australia, but it has come close and we think it will happen one day, largely because of climate change.”

Satellite imagery shows homes in the Pacific Palisades before and after the fire. Source: Getty / Maxar Technologies

Mullins said Australia has had two “wake-up calls”. The first, he said, was the 2003 Canberra bushfires, in which four people died and 500 buildings were destroyed. The second was the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, when 173 people died and more than 2,000 homes were destroyed.

“It was the most destructive series of fires in Australia’s history, and the most forest ever burnt,” Mullins said.

“We could get very destructive winds on a day of catastrophic fire weather, and that’s when fires can push into suburbia.”

Which Australian cities are at risk?

“We’ve had years of wet weather, and we haven’t been able to do the hazard reduction burning that we’d normally do, so there’s massive fuel loads.”

“They’re doing a lot, and there’s a lot of community education going on,” he said.