Flames is set in real-life Tasmania, a harsh but beautiful and, at times, inaccessible place, the beauty and wonder of which the author illustrates by blending magical elements with real ones. Separated from mainland Australia by the Bass Strait, Tasmania’s landscape ranges from mountains in the central highlands, which covers most of the central west parts of the island, to the fairly flat Midlands located in the central east. Much of the island is still densely forested, and an area covering 15,800 km², or almost 25% of Tasmania, is a World Heritage Site. One of Australia’s largest conservation areas, the site faced losing its protection in 2014 through a proposal by the then Australian Government. Losing the UNESCO protection would have allowed for the logging of trees so it was fortunate the proposal was rejected by the World Heritage Committee.

Much of the action in the novel takes place in and around Launceston, Tasmania’s second most populous city, which sits on the Tamar River in the northern part of the country. Hawley is the setting for the story of Karl and his seal, Charlotte and Levi’s home is in Beauty Point, Jack, the siblings’ father, lives south of Exeter on a property overlooking the Tamar River, and Notley Fern Gorge is only 24 kilometres northwest of Launceston.

Cradle Mountain, Nicola and Charlotte’s hideout after the fire in Melaleuca, is southwest of Launceston in the Central Highlands. It is as indicated in the book, a popular tourist destination, and a place of exceptional natural beauty, with ancient rainforests, deep river gorges, snow-covered mountain peaks, wild alpine moorlands and glacial lakes. Wildlife such as Tasmanian devils, quolls, platypus, echidna, wombats and the black currawong are in abundance.

The South Esk River, Tasmania’s largest river and the home of Arnott’s river god, springs from the foothills of the Ben Lomond plateau near Mathinna, east of Launceston from where it runs in an arc around the southern promontory of the mountain, past towns including Avoca, Thurston Hough’s location, then heading northwest to merge with the Meander River, flowing through the Cataract Gorge before meeting the North Esk River and the Tamar at Launceston.

Located as expected in the south west of Tasmania is Tasmania’s largest national park, the Southwest National Park, where the novel’s ranger is stationed. The setting for the wombat farm, Melaleuca, is in the extreme south-west where there is an airstrip and some basic facilities. The area contains Australia’s last standing tin smelter, where visitors can learn about Tasmania’s tin mining history and imagine the wombat farm manager Allen Gibson transforming into a cormorant in a tin mine. As portrayed in the novel, Melaleuca can only be reached by plane, foot or by boat.

Arnott conveys historical facts that are pertinent to Tasmania’s setting, including about its Indigenous people and their colonisation, and the progression and effects of human expansion and activity on the land, including the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger.