Barely four months have passed since record floods inundated the Kimberley, but the region is already burning.
For those unfamiliar with the remote and rugged north of Western Australia, it's hard to imagine that it could be dry enough to ignite.
But for those who know the place, there is an urgency for fire control efforts in a landscape still scarred by the January torrent, but flourishing because of it.
"As early as the end of March there were some fires caused by lightning," said conservation land manager Tim White of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.
"Our planned burn program is absolutely critical this year, considering the consequences of several really good rainy seasons in terms of vegetation growth."
The last rainy season was incredible thanks to extropical cyclone Ellie.
In the space of a week, the system dumped nearly a year's worth of rain on the stunning Dimond Gorge, not far from the conservancy's main base of operations Mornington-Marion Downs wildlife sanctuary.
Near Fitzroy Bluff, part of an ancient chain of cliffs rising 1,150 feet above sea level, has been turned into an island.
The Adcock River burst its banks, submerging many of the buildings on the base.
At the height of the drama, helicopters were sent in to evacuate staff and researchers who had retreated to the few buildings that were not swallowed.
There is still a major cleanup task ahead, but the camp is now functional enough to support the conservancy's contribution to a crucial early-season burn program, covering more than 6 million hectares of the Kimberley.
White said the program was about minimizing the risk of large-scale fires and safeguarding the habitat of native species by creating a mosaic of burned and unburned areas.
The strategy means that when fires do break out, they cannot take off and destroy large tracts of brush.
"One of the big goals is to keep areas of fuels unburned for a long time, around three or four years of vegetation," he said.
"The monitoring that AWC and a wide range of research collaborators have done shows that unburned fuel for a long time, around that age, is really important for habitat."
One species that benefits from careful fire management is the Mornington population of endangered purple-crowned wrens.
It has been studied for nearly 20 years in one of Australia's oldest field studies with birds.
Last year, scientists from Monash University published a paper detailing how climate change is affecting the DNA of birds and shortening their lives.
Monash staff are about to resume their field work for the first time since the floods as fire management efforts continue around them.
Significant soil burning has already taken place and work is currently focused on careful burning of the landscape which will likely extend into June, all from a disaster-stricken campsite that is slowly recovering its shape.
White said work at the camp would extend into next year as most of the flooded buildings were flooded above the roof.
But there is an upside to match the low and that is the explosion of growth and life that has come with the big rain.
"It's a really exciting time, it's a really dynamic time. Everything is growing and plentiful, and the place is clean and refreshed," he said.
