Bringing it all together - research synthesis

Parts of the research program of the Bushfire CRC were synthesized into a series of reports to draw together the key learnings from a range of projects. Synthesis reports on community safety research and fire behaviour research have been completed.

Community safety research

In April 2014, close to 40 community safety practitioners gathered at the Bushfire CRC and AFAC offices in Melbourne to review the past 10 years of Bushfire CRC research into community safety. The group discussed trends and identified the key themes that have emerged from the research.

The hands on workshop allowed participants from agencies right across Australasia including the fire services, State Emergency Services and Surf Life Saving Australia, to contribute their own thoughts about the research and to share community safety knowledge amongst their interstate and international colleagues.

Facilitated by Professor Timothy Skinner, who has spent the past 18 years undertaking research in promoting behaviour change, the two day event saw a number of key themes emerge and these are reflected in the final report by Professor Skinner. Download the report.

Fire behaviour research

This work, led by Dr Andrew Sullivan, undertook a survey of the fire behaviour knowledge currently used by operational fire behaviour analysts (FBANs) in Australia and New Zealand for the purpose of predicting the behaviour and spread of bushfires. This included a review of the science, applicability and validation of current fire behaviour models, an examination of the fire perimeter propagation software currently being used by FBANs, and a survey of those FBANs to determine current work practices when carrying out fire behaviour predictions.

The objective of the work was to synthesise current fire behaviour knowledge and practice and to provide recommendations as to which fire behaviour models, supported by the science and defining operating bounds, should be used for operational prediction of fire spread.

While no single fire behaviour model will ever be perfect, the output of models that over-predict rate of spread can be easily readjusted whereas the output of models than under-predict rate of spread can have catastrophic consequences. Download the report.