The PhD work of Colin Simpson at the University of Canterbury looked at how weather affected bushfire spread in mountainous regions. He investigated atmospheric interactions with bushfire behaviour through the application of numerical weather prediction and fire behaviour coupled modelling.
The PhD work of James Minas at RMIT University concentrated on the use of operations research for decision support in bushfire management. Operations research is the use of an analytical approach to aid decision making in complex real-world systems.
Fire Note 74: Fighting bushfires is a physically demanding occupation and therefore firefighters need to be physically fit to work safely and productively.
Many firefighting agencies employ physical competency tests such as the Pack Hike Test to determine whether personnel are fit for duty.
The test involves a 4.83 km hike over level terrain carrying a 20.4 kg pack within 45 minutes. The test was devised to test the job readiness of USA wildfire firefighters and is currently used by some fire agencies in Australia.
Fire danger alpine regions
