Following the recommendations of the 2009 Victorian Bush Fires Royal Commission, the NSW  Rural Fire Service commenced a National Disaster Resilience Project to establish a full time fire behaviour analysis capability. October 2013 saw significant fire activity in NSW, particularly in the Blue Mountains region, where three fires threatened to join with significant potential to impact upon thousands of Blue Mountains residents.

A specialist interagency and interstate Fire Behaviour Analysis Team was assembled to prepare predictions specifically for this event. This presentation discusses how fire behaviour analysis has been structured in NSW and capacity was escalated during the NSW October 2013 fires. It also explores the information produced and how it was used to inform community messaging during the Blue Mountains event in October 2013 and lessons learnt.