There is growing certainty that the risk of fire disaster in flammable landscapes across the world is escalating because of climate change. This makes the problem of coexistence with wildfires extraordinarily complicated, with profound policy implications. It is impossible to exclude fire safely from landscapes where important plant and animal species have evolved to rely on it; but without careful management, ecosystem services such as potable water and clean air can be compromised. In a nutshell, sustainability demands carefully balanced stewardship of bushfire: reduction of wildland fuels, controlled burns, suppressing uncontrolled bushfires, and management of smoke. I describe a codesigned research program funded by Natural Hazard Research Australia and the Australian Research Council specifically designed to solve the problem of adapting to bushfires. I report some of my recent research findings using a diversity of approaches from the physical,biological and social sciences, and discuss the challenges to deliver at scale the necessary transformative changes to make communities prepared and safe from bushfires.
