The recent catastrophic fires tested the capacity of people and systems to conserve threatened species and ecological communities. Many conservation managers lacked prior information and suitable planning frameworks to help prioritise and guide protection of threatened species and communities during the fire event. This project addresses these gaps by (1) interviewing conservation managers and operational state agency staff to determine what worked and what didn’t, what made the response efficient and what impeded it and (2) developing a road map that encompasses recommendations for improvements identified during interviews.