January 2013 saw areas around Yass, Shoalhaven and Coonabarabran impacted by large fires. At the request of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, the Bushfire CRC coordinated a field research task force to interview a sample of respondents in each of the three communities affected by the fires, complemented by an online panel survey of a representative sample of residents of the same locations.
Bushfire CRC researcher Dr Michael Eburn from the Australian National University recently visited the Emergency Planning College in the UK to present on his emergency law research, including Bushfire CRC research, and future research with the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC. For insightful thoughts on emergency law, check out Dr Eburn's interview with the Emergency Planning College below.
Highlighting the breadth and depth of Australia’s national bushfire research program, two books were launched by the Bushfire CRC on 23 October in Melbourne.
Hosted by Bushfire CRC Chairman Len Foster and launched by AFAC CEO and Bushfire CRC board director Stuart Ellis to the fire, land management and emergency service industry, the two books display the extensive reach of Bushfire CRC research, and are very different in both content and style. They are:
The report of a Bushfire CRC task force following the January 2013 Tasman Peninsula bushfire was released as part of the 2013 Tasmanian Bushfires Inquiry.
The Bushfire CRC task force, led by Prof Timothy Skinner and Prof Jim McLennan, conducted 245 interviews with residents across the Tasman Peninsula following the Forcett bushfire on 3-4 January 2013. The research was commissioned by the Tasmania Fire Service, and aimed at gaining a better understanding of the community response.
The report of a Bushfire CRC task force following the January 2013 Tasman Peninsula bushfire was released as part of the 2013 Tasmanian Bushfires Inquiry.
Highlighting the breadth and depth of Australia’s national bushfire research program, two books have today been launched by the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).
The two books demonstrate the extensive reach of Bushfire CRC research, and are very different in both content and style:
Different psychological processes between individuals drives decision making. What does this mean for residents who are threatened by bushfire? Why do they decide to evacuate, stay and defend or wait and see?
Fire Note 117: The research findings presented in this Fire Note explain that different psychological processes between individuals drives their decision making. Residents who wait and see when threatened by a bushfire do so because they fear making the wrong decision. Most residents surveyed who chose this option did not perceive the risks associated with this choice to be great. They did not want to leave unnecessarily and risk losing the house when they could have saved it had they stayed, and they did not want to be exposed to unnecessary danger when leaving.
Presentation at the Research Forum of the 2013 Bushfire CRC and AFAC Annual Conference in Melbourne.
