Scientific evidence suggests that natural hazards are becoming more frequent and severe. In many cases, these events are triggering multiple or varying impacts where they occur. A larger, dispersed population means more people and infrastructure are exposed to the impacts of major events. As a result, many communities experience multiple impacts – or multiple hazards – when large scale disasters strike. This presentation will discuss research undertaken by the Victorian Fire Services Commissioner that explores the phenomena of large scale events and in particular, the multiple hazards that may be experienced concurrently. This research offers a different approach to analysing the impacts of large scale events now, and in future. The project builds on a limited pool of research on multiple hazards; a comparatively new concept in emergency management. This research will contribute to the foundation for a lexicon for Victoria on multiple hazards, as well as other parts of Australia. The presentation will address and define related concepts, including secondary events (hazards occurring during the course of a particular natural hazard), compound hazards (hazards making other hazards more intense or serious) and multiple events (separate hazards occurring simultaneously). Examples of these phenomena will be drawn on to highlight current and potential challenges for emergency management, emergency service organisations and communities before, during and after these events. The presentation will identify adaptation pathways for the emergency management sector to effectively plan, prepare and respond to anticipated increases in large scale disasters and their broader consequences.