Do hazard reduction burns work?

As the bushfire season intensifies in southern Australia, questions are flying about the best way to manage fires. Some people want to drastically ramp up hazard reduction burning – but does it really work? How long has fire been in the landscape? And is there anything else we can do to reduce the risk of bushfires?

In the third season of ‘Debunks’, the new podcast series from the Cosmos newsroom team and Nine Podcasts, science journalist Imma Perfetto is chasing down all the science on bushfires.

And in this, the first episode of the season, she’s starting at the source: a hazard reduction burn. What are hazard reduction burns, and do they work?

Debunks is a science podcast that asks questions that you actually want answered. 

Each week a journalist in the Cosmos newsroom expertly guides listeners through the science topics of the day, from EVs and bushfires to Ozempic. Plus we unpack all the misinformation that comes with it.