Following the catastrophic bushfire events of 7th February 2009 the
Bushfire CRC, with the Victorian fire agencies with
responsibilities for these fires, CFA and DSE, developed a research
response to these events using the Bushfire CRC research teams with
much support from AFAC and many other agencies. The key areas being
addressed are:
- Fire behaviour
- Human behaviour and community
safety
- Building and land-use planning.
A range of fire and land management
agencies, research partners and private companies from Victoria,
interstate and overseas have provided extensive support in rapidly
collecting data that would have be destroyed by the passage of
time. See list of Taskforce participants, at left.
Most of these agencies have provided
significant in-kind support to make this project such a
success.
There is more detail on the work of
the Taskforce at www.bushfirecrc.com
In the month since 7th February we
have successfully deployed teams across the fire affected areas to
collect a broad cross section of data.
From the end of this week, the focus
will shift to data consolidation before moving into the data
analysis and report writing. Future data collection will be
targeted to addressing specific needs or supporting the integrative
studies and will use fewer field researchers.
I would like to continue with the
generous support of the agencies, to undertake this analysis and
report writing. Of course the skill set will be specific and we
will liaise with the agencies involved to ensure the best fit of
skills and resources for the ongoing work.
I will be writing to all agencies
involved in the Bushfire CRC’s Victorian Research Taskforce
to formally thank them for their involvement. However, let me take
this opportunity to convey my personal thanks for the work to date
and for the ongoing support for this important initiative, which
will have high significance in Australia, New Zealand and
internationally.
US Connection
The Taskforce has been greatly
assisted by the contribution of many people. One such visitor,
Sarah McCaffrey, Research Social Scientist, of the USDA Forest
Service, has shared her insights into her research on understanding
the social dynamics of fire management including the public
acceptance of prescribed fire and the notion of defendable space.
Sarah is well known to some of our stakeholders for the
research she has conducted in collaboration with Alan Rhodes at the
CFA.
As well as working closely with the
Taskforce to assist in defining the research program, Sarah
presented a lunchtime seminar at the Department of Sustainability
and Environment (DSE) in Melbourne. More than 40 people from the
DSE, Country Fire Authority, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, RMIT
University and other organisations heard Sarah talk on
“Social Science and Fuel Management – a US
perspective.”
Slides from Sarah’s talk can
be found here
New CRC bid submitted
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Sending the submission: pressing the "go" button
are Bushfire CRC CEO Gary Morgan, Research Manager Lyndsey
Wright, AFAC CEO Naomi Brown, and Research Director Richard
Thornton.
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This week the long process to
secure funding for a new CRC passed its first major milestone
– a formal application was submitted to the Australian
Government’s Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and
Research on Wednesday.
An exciting and relevant research
program for the next decade has been developed under the direction
of the AFAC Rebid committee and Bushfire CRC Deputy CEO and
Research Director, Dr Richard Thornton.
Successful bids are expected to be
announced around July this year.
Senate support
It was pleasing to see that the Senate passed a resolution on 11
February that highly supported our work. The resolution of the
Senate:
(a) Notes the
extensive and internationally-recognised work of the Bushfire CRC;
and
(b) Recommends the
Government assess the value of upgrading the Centre to be a global
wildfire research facility.
Read the latest edition of the CRC Program newsletter,
Success Through Innovation, with a foreword by
Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and
Research, that highlights the work of the Bushfire CRC.
A plan for Research Adoption
All Stakeholders and researchers
have this week been sent the Research Adoption Plan for the
Bushfire CRC. This Plan was presented to the recent meeting of the
Governing Board of the Bushfire CRC.
This Plan builds upon the Research
Adoption Strategy of last year and provides the detail on how
Research Adoption, now the highest priority for the Bushfire CRC,
is occurring over the coming year.
All the activities planned align
with the four outcome themes endorsed in the Research Adoption
Strategy. These are:
Keep checking the Research Adoption
section of the Bushfire CRC website as it is being continually
updated with new information and more detail on the roll-out of
this Plan.
April Stakeholders Meeting
As the Bushfire CRC enters its
final stages, the upcoming Stakeholder Council meeting promises to
be an important showcase of research outputs. There will also be
essential updates on the proposed ongoing research program and more
detail on how the Research Adoption plan is being rolled out into
the industry.
This meeting will be held on
Wednesday 22 April on Level 2 of the Bushfire CRC offices, 340
Albert St, East Melbourne. More information will be sent to all
Stakeholder Council representatives soon.
Visitors
Minister
A recent visitor to the offices of
the Bushfire CFC was Mr Bob Cameron, the Victorian Minister for
Police and Emergency Services. Mr Cameron met with Bushfire CRC
office staff and spoke to members of the Research Taskforce about
their work following the Victorian fires.
US fire chiefs
An investigation team from
California visited the Bushfire CRC as part of a visit to other
Victorian and New South Wales agencies soon after the fires of 7
February. Mike Ferdig, Battalion Chief, and Cari Purkey,
Assistant Fire Marshall, from Orange County Fire Authority, were
interested to gauge first hand how the Prepare to Stay and Defend
or Leave Early position was implemented. Subsequent to this visit
Mike Ferdig advised the media that California saw the
merits in such a policy:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/02/2505508.htm
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Orange County fire investigators Cari Purkey and
Mike Ferdig, meet Gary Morgan (centre).
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Fulbright Scholar
Congratulations to Dr Tina Bell for
gaining a scholarship with the prestigious Fulbright Program. Tina,
a Bushfire CRC Project Leader and senior research fellow at the
University of Melbourne, will travel to the Centre for Fire
Research and Outreach (CFRO) at the University of California,
Berkeley to study the effect of fuel reduction fires on
grapevines.
Her project is
called:”Bacchus’ lament: the effect of smoke from fire
on grapevine physiology.”
Importantly, Tina will be working
with Dr Max Moritz and Assoc Prof Scott Stephens, two CFRO
researchers with long ties to the Bushfire CRC. The Bushfire CRC
has a memorandum of understanding with CFRO and Tina’s three
month project will take full advantage of this arrangement as a
catalyst to promote longer term collaboration.
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Dr Tina Bell - Fulbright Scholar.
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