- Title:
-
Assessing Fire Hazard on Public Land in Victoria: Fire Management Needs and Practical Research Objectives
- Date:
- May 1992
- Organisations
- DSE
- Authors:
- A. A. G. Wilson
- Location:
- Victoria, VIC, Australia
Overview
Bushfire hazard is discussed in relation to the specific needs of managers of public land in Victoria, the complexity of the physical influences of fuel on fire spread, the limitations of existing models, and the priorities to be addressed by research.
The ideal classification system would incorporate the effects of all fuel components on fire behaviour and difficulty of suppression, taking account of appropriate weighting factors for each component. Bark, scrub and surface fuels should be assessed separately in a classification system which relates directly to the expected difficulty of fire control and in which the categories match the thresholds of hazard that are used by land managers to determine the need or otherwise for protection works, especially fuel reduction burning. The classification system should be applied operationally in short term, validated progressively and supplemented later by other research into fuel accumulation rates and the effects of fire regime on fuel arrangement.
A possible basis for classifying scrub fuels, which complements the existing planning process for rating surface fuels in Victoria and utilizes parts of the "Red Book" model from Western Australia, is outlined.
