Thursday 23 September 2010

Bushfire CRC Updates!

The Bushfire CRC has today published Fire Note 66, Fire dynamics in mallee-heath

by Dr Miguel Cruz of CSIRO Ecosystem, Canberra

All editions of Fire Update (brief summaries) and Fire Note (detailed outcomes of Bushfire CRC research) are available for download on the Bushfire CRC website: http://www.bushfirecrc.com/publications/index.html

Bushfire CRC News

September 2010 Newsletter

The full newsletter with more details on each item is online at; www.bushfirecrc.com/news/newsletters/issue3510.html

Darwin on show

With more than 900 people at the Darwin Convention Centre this month, the Bushfire CRC/AFAC Annual Conference again lived up to its reputation as the biggest fire, emergency services and land management event of the year.

The Bushfire CRC website is currently being overhauled to include all the details of the new research program so the best place to find presentations, posters, videos and photos from the conference at this point is on the Knowledge Web at; http://knowledgeweb.afac.com.au/Window_on_the_Conference

Special Recognition

At the annual conference awards to recognise outstanding endeavour in the fire and emergency services sector and research were presented to a number of individuals and agencies. The Bushfire CRC Special Recognition Award was given to Professor John Handmer.

Prof Handmer of RMIT University is a Principal Scientific Adviser at the Bushfire CRC. He was a leading researcher and adviser to the Bushfire CRC Research Taskforce immediately after the Black Saturday fires. During the subsequent Royal Commission, Prof Handmer was an expert witness and was requested by the Royal Commission to conduct several in-depth analyses that directly contributed to the final deliberations.

Diary Note – Stakeholder Council AGM

This important meeting will be hosted by the University of Sydney at Australian Technology Park, on Tuesday 9 November. Each Bushfire CRC partner is invited to send a representative to attend. The all-day meeting will include an overview of the current and planned activities of the Bushfire CRC with plenty of opportunity for discussion and involvement by those who attend. This meeting incorporates the Annual General Meeting. More details will follow in a separate email.

The Governing Board of the Bushfire CRC will meet the day before, on Monday 8 November, at the University of Sydney.

Diary Note – Research Advisory Forum

The next Research Advisory Forum will be held at the University of South Australia in Adelaide on Thursday 25 November. More details will follow shortly.

Fire forecast

The annual southern Seasonal Bushfire Assessment Workshop was held in Melbourne in late August, hosted by the Bushfire CRC. In conjunction with the northern workshop held earlier in Darwin, this workshop allows fire and weather specialists from each of the jurisdictions to collectively consider the latest climate data from the Bureau of Meteorology alongside the input from their regional managers to distil consistent regional outlooks for the coming fire seasons. The Outlook report will be released shortly.

Large Tanker Report

A Bushfire CRC evaluation of the DC-10 air tanker in Victoria last bushfire season was presented by lead researcher Matt Plucinski of CSIRO at the annual conference in Darwin this month. The day before, the Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Mr Gavin Jennings, released the report and issued a media release: http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/component/content/article/11805.html

The final report is on the front page of the Bushfire CRC website at www.bushfirecrc.com

New Students

A new cohort of postgraduate research students is now engaged in new research at the Bushfire CRC. The initial 10 students, based in universities around Australia and New Zealand, have begun their research projects into areas linked to the Bushfire CRC extension research program.

Opportunities are still available for more research scholarships and we are expecting more to commence with us shortly. More than 30 students from the 2003-2010 research program have completed their studies with a few more submitting their thesis in coming months.

Early warning system

The Victorian State Government recently launched a fire prediction and early warning system based on Bushfire CRC research that will deliver detailed information on the spread of fires to help protect communities in the event of a bushfire.

The Premier Mr John Brumby outlined details of the digital mapping system that integrates the existing FireWeb system with the Bushfire CRC’s computer mapping and fire simulation system called Phoenix RapidFire, has been trialled for the past 12 months and will become a key tool in Victoria’s firefighting effort in the upcoming bushfire season. The Phoenix RapidFire system was developed by Bushfire CRC researcher Dr Kevin Tolhurst from the University of Melbourne.

Research matters

From Richard Thornton, Research Director

This is an exciting time for the Bushfire CRC with the beginnings of a new research program and new students coming on board. I know that many of you have committed substantial work in getting us to this point, and finally we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and I thank you all for this. Personally for me this is a major step forward in the evolution of the Bushfire CRC we have successfully reshaped and redesigned our research agenda, while bringing along the existing partners and building on this to make our total number of partners now to around 40: a clear endorsement of the critical role the Bushfire CRC plays in the sector. (More Research Matters online)

Research Utilisation matters

From Noreen Krusel, Manager Research Utilisation

The experience of the first seven year program of the Bushfire CRC has provided an opportunity to create, develop and implement a range of mechanisms and tools to support research utilisation. Now, with the three year extension to the program, there is an opportunity to leverage from and build on this work and also to ensure it is valid for other research engagement opportunities.

So, we intend to conduct a survey of all end user agencies of the Bushfire CRC. We will contact all Stakeholder Council Representatives to co-ordinate this survey, which will be conducted over the next couple of months and reported on early in 2011. (More Research Utilisation Matters online)

Communication Matters

From David Bruce, Communications Manager

Standby for changes to the Bushfire CRC website. The site is undergoing a thorough overhaul to feature the new research program and well as retain all the research outputs of the last seven years. With more than 800 links to research outputs (reports, journal articles, presentations, posters) it is proving quite a challenge to make all this content readily accessible online. The new website will include a revamped online and email monthly newsletter Fire Update.

New Bushfire CRC templates for slide and poster presentations for the new research program were seen at the annual conference in Darwin. The templates can now be used by any researcher or partner organisation presenting Bushfire CRC research in any forum. (More Communication Matters online).