At its 8 April 2016 meeting, the Australian and New Zealand Emergency Management Committee (ANZEMC) approved a staged approach that would maintain momentum and enable the latest thinking to be incorporated as the system was developed.

A national Program Board with jurisdictional and national representation was established in late 2016 to oversee the development of the new Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS).

The AFDRS was developed across four phases:

Phase One (Completed December 2015)

• The first phase of the AFDRS Program included the development of a feasibility study, five-year roadmap and initial program management plan for the delivery of a new Australian Fire Danger Rating System. This work was undertaken by the Cube Group for the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNHCRC) and completed in December 2015.

Phase Two (Completed early 2019)

• The NSW Rural Fire Service and the Bureau of Meteorology developed a prototype of a new fire behaviour index. Testing it against real-world fires demonstrated improved fire danger forecasts, meaning that fire danger ratings and associated messages to communities in the new AFDRS could be more accurate.

• The SA Country Fire Service led extensive social research into community understanding of fire danger and the current fire danger rating system.

Phase Three (Completed September 2022)

• An enhanced fire behaviour index using findings from the Phase Two research prototype.

• Software and tools to collect and analyse data, and to provide agencies with interrogable fire danger information that will improve decision-making.

• A simplified fire danger rating framework, including a unified system of clear, concise and action-oriented messaging that can be easily understood and responded to by the community.

• Research prototypes for other indices that could potentially prove useful to further enhance decision-making.

Phase Four (Commenced December 2024)

• Advancing capabilities through the development and build of the Fire Ignition, Suppression, and Impact (FISI) Indices Trial Sandpit.
• User experience improvements to the Fire Danger Viewer.

AFDRS is now operational and includes the below:

• Advancing capabilities through the development and build of the Fire Ignition, Suppression, and Impact (FISI) Indices Trial Sandpit.
• User experience improvements to the Fire Danger Viewer.

First Season Review (Completed June 2023)

• The AFDRS First Season Review was informed by extensive national and jurisdictional consultations.
• The 18 recommendations span Program Governance and Change management, Community Facing Elements, Capacity Development and Knowledge Sharing, and Fire Science and Technology.
• The was an important step in the AFDRS continual improvement process.

Interim FISI Program (Completed June 2023)

• Continued development of components of the Fire Ignition, Suppression and Impact Indices (FISI) from Phase 3.
• Aimed to make FISI operationally ready for testing in Phase 4, funded by Minderoo Foundation.

AFDRS Stabilisation and Maturation (Completed December 2024)

• Redirection project funding to undertake work on the National Implementation Plan work packages.
• Redesigned governance structure.
• Code improvements and fire behaviour model updates.

Web Portal Improvements (Completed March 2025)

• Fuel State Editor App to enable offline capability for grass fuel observations.
• Eleven change requests to improve the functionality and user experience in the Fire Danger Viewer.
• Funded by Minderoo Foundation.

AFDRS Support (Business as Usual)

• Fire Danger Viewer and Fuel State Editor support.
• Jurisdictional support.
• Training and communication materials.
• Science, data and technology updates.
• Program management, governance and secretariat.