- Title:
-
Effectiveness of fuel-reduction burning (10 case studies).
- Date:
- October 1985
- Authors:
- R. Rawson, P.Billing and B.Rees
Overview
The principle of fuel-reduction burning is that the resulting decrease in fuel quantity will slow or stop the spread of a fire which originates inside, or spreads into, a fuel-reduced area. That a decreased fuel quantity leads to a reduced rate of fire spread, and therefore fire intensity, has been clearly demonstrated by studies of fire behaviour in eucalypt forests.
Fuel-reduction burning is conducted within strategic areas to hinder the development of major fires, and also to provide close protection for specific high-value assets. The most dramatic examples of the impact of fuel-reduction burning can be found where fires have spread to barriers created by intensive burning. Such burns, usually of relatively small area, have played a vital role in settlement protection in particular.
Large fuel-reduced areas have also provided substantial assistance during fire control operations although, because the total fuel quantities left are usually greater than after a small-scale operation, their effectiveness is more closely linked with fire intensity. They have frequently helped to minimise the spread of lightning-caused fires and therefore assist fire control in often difficult and remote terrain. However, under conditions of very high to extreme fire danger, where a fire has entered on a broad front, such areas have sometimes had little impact on spread rates. Because it is clear that the present standard of fuel-reduction is not always adequate, operational techniques which achieve greater reductions in fuel quantity need to be implemented.
