- Title:
-
Bluegum Plantation Fire 23 March 2008: Fire behaviour in a 6 year old Eucalyptus globulus plantation during conditions of extreme fire danger
- Date:
- October 2006
- Organisations
- BCRC
- Authors:
- Lachlan McCaw and Bob Smith
Overview
This paper presents a case study of a wildfire that burnt from grazed pasture into a 6 year old bluegum plantation in the south-west of Western Australia. The fire burnt during conditions of extreme fire danger following an extended period of summer drought. The fire crowned extensively and about 20 per cent of the plantation was defoliated, with most of the remainder being fully crown scorched. Factors contributing to the severe behaviour of the headfire include extreme fuel dryness, very low relative humidity and the condition of the fuels within the plantation.
There is a growing body of evidence from case studies to show that from an age of 6 years bluegum plantations carry sufficient fuel to support an intense fire and that when fire danger conditions are Extreme and all fine fuel is available to burn the difficulty of suppressing a fire in a bluegum plantation will be much greater than in grazed pasture.
This study also highlights a need to better predict situations where dry air from aloft may mix down resulting in unexpectedly low relative humidity at ground level.
