- Title:
-
Firefighting on the Urban Interface
- Date:
- September 2008
- Organisations
- Tasmanian Fire Service
- Authors:
- C.J. Arnol
- Location:
- Tasmania, TAS, Australia
Overview
The International Bushfire Research Conference - Incorporating the 15th annual AFAC Conference.
Australia is one of the most bushfire prone countries on the planet and it shares this unenviable position with the United States and most Mediterranean countries. Climatic conditions in these places produce frequent bushfires, which have a devastating impact on urban fringe communities.
These events are dynamic, high consequence, complex situations where the application of traditional structural and bush firefighting practices do not always apply. There is currently no common doctrine for managing urban interface fires in Australasia, however, fire agencies in the United States and Europe have developed specific firefighting strategies and methods to deal with these incidents.
This paper reports on the operational strategies, tactics and techniques overseas fire authorities use to defend structures during bushfires. It concludes that a re-think of urban interface firefighting strategies are in order and that improvements can be achieved with better operational preparation and alignment of current firefighting arrangements with urban interface practices that were observed overseas as part of a Churchill Fellowship study tour.
