@article {bnh-6997, title = {The effect of firefighter-delivered fire safety education on young people who misuse fire}, journal = {Fire Safety Journal}, year = {2020}, month = {06/2020}, abstract = {

Youth misuse of fire is a multifaceted, complex and dangerous phenomenon that is difficult to predict and detect. Reduction relies heavily on prevention programs operated by, or in conjunction with, fire services. Youth Justice Conferencing with firefighter involvement is a tertiary prevention program implemented in New South Wales, Australia, by Juvenile Justice New South Wales and Fire and Rescue New South Wales for young people who have committed a fire-related offence. The aim of this project was to evaluate this program to ascertain whether, and if so how, firefighter-delivered fire safety education in the context of conferencing reduced the risk of misuse of fire. The evaluation involved quantitative analysis of 10 years{\textquoteright} worth of conferencing record and recidivism data and qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with program practitioners. Findings revealed that firefighter-delivered fire safety education in the context of conferencing contributed to a reduction in general reoffending whilst providing an avenue through which firefighters could deliver fire safety education to members of the community who were at-risk. These findings have implications for the tertiary prevention of youth misuse of fire.

}, keywords = {Arson, Fire prevention, Fire safety education, Fire service, firefighter, Juvenile justice, Youth justice conferencing, youth misuse of fire}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2020.103156}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0379711220302423?via\%3Dihub}, author = {Kamarah Pooley} } @mastersthesis {bnh-8090, title = {Wildfire suppression {\textendash} an international analysis of operations, strategy and firefighter safety}, volume = {Doctor of Philosophy}, year = {2020}, month = {10/2020}, pages = {430}, school = {Edith Cowan University}, abstract = {

Wildfire suppression remains an inherently dangerous yet increasingly frequent task for fire services throughout Australia and the world. Each year firefighters from career and volunteer agencies respond to wildfires that impact the urban interface. When such an event occurs during a period of intense fire behaviour the conditions are often incompatible with life for persons either caught in the open or those seeking refuge in a vehicle. In order to improve firefighter safety and operational effectiveness at the rural urban interface (RUI) during landscape scale wildfires, this dissertation serves to examine critical components of wildfire response, most notably wildfire suppression strategies and tactics applied during a landscape scale wildfire event and the procedures and protective systems utilised in the event of firefighter entrapment and burnover.

The theme of the research is firefighter safety and suppression effectiveness during mega-wildfire response at the rural urban interface (RUI), also known as the wildland urban interface (WUI). Mega-wildfires are those landscape wildfires that overwhelm firefighting resources, typically generate their own localized weather systems, and require campaign style efforts lasting extended durations. Wildfire events including Margaret River (2011), and Yarloop (2016) in Western Australia, the devastating Californian and Greece wildfires (2018) and the unprecedented wildfires throughout eastern Australia in late 2019 / early 2020 meet this category. The RUI is the land where towns and cities exist alongside forest and other vegetation that supports the development of an established headfire with a quasi-steady rate of spread (RoS) across the landscape. In such instances, firefighters are called on to protect vulnerable communities and critical infrastructure from the ember storms, radiant heat and flames that accompany the head fire. In doing so, firefighters face great personal peril. If the incorrect suppression tactics or strategies are applied, or if wildfire behaviour suddenly changes, firefighter entrapment and burnover resulting in significant injury or fatality remains an all too common consequence.

The studies not only quantify the severity of the conditions firefighters encounter when attempting to protect life, property and the environment at the RUI, but also find traditional wildfire suppression strategies and tactics at the RUI need to be reexamined. Whilst the field of wildfire engineering is in its infancy, the studies suggest its development and adoption into wildfire suppression operations has the potential to improve both operational effectiveness and firefighter safety.

}, keywords = {analysis, firefighter, international, operations, safety, strategy, suppression, Wildfire}, url = {https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2349/}, author = {Greg Penney} } @conference {bnh-6507, title = {Safety awareness of firefighters and their perception of fire risks in cladding fires }, booktitle = {AFAC19 powered by INTERSCHUTZ - Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Forum}, year = {2019}, month = {12/2019}, publisher = {Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience}, organization = {Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

Owing to the extensive use of polymers in building products, there is the urgent need to resolve the present fire risks of highly combustible cladding products. Apart from understanding the risks associated with cladding materials on buildings, it is also essential to evaluate the underlying risks of existing noncompliant materials on buildings for residents, owners, and the public, and for firefighters during the management of such fire events. In this article, a fire risk perception survey was constructed by a collaborative effort from Fire and Rescue New South Wales (FRNSW) and University of New South Wales. The survey can be subdivided into four major parts, i) demographics, ii) risk awareness and identification associated with cladding material, iii) the firefighter{\textquoteright}s own perceived risk associated with cladding fires and iv) risk mitigating behaviours. The majority of the questions are designed with five distinctive levels (i.e. ranging from rare to almost certain, or negligible to very high), and it will be distributed to firefighters from major states and rural fire agencies around Australia. The results will formulate a large and comprehensive database to increase our understanding of the firefighter{\textquoteright}s risk perception associated with combustible cladding materials.

Download the full peer reviewed research proceedings\ from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Forumhere.

}, keywords = {cladding, Emergency management, fire management, Fire risk, firefighter, risk awareness}, url = {https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/australian-journal-of-emergency-management-monograph-series/}, author = {Timothy Bo Yuan Chen and Anthony Chun Yin Yuen and Qing Nian Chan and Guan Heng Yeoh} } @mastersthesis {bnh-6162, title = {Wellbeing of firefighters: the impact of individual factors, potentially traumatic event exposure, and operational and organisational factors on mental health outcomes}, volume = {Doctor of Psychiatry}, year = {2019}, month = {10/2019}, school = {University of Melbourne}, type = {Doctorate}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

Aims:
This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of the common mental health disorders associated with increased exposure to potentially traumatic events in career and volunteer firefighters, and to identify which individual, acute stressor, operational and organisational factors predict mental health outcomes.

Method: Four Australian services participated in a prospective study, with 335 firefighters completing an online survey twice (12-months apart). The survey comprised demographic and fire service information, self-report measures for PTSD, depression, anxiety, alcohol use, exposure to personal trauma and life stressors, number and types of firefighter-related potentially traumatic events experienced in the previous 12-months, job satisfaction related to operational and organisational characteristics of their role, and a measure of the priority their fire service placed on their psychological wellbeing. Structured clinical interviews were conducted with a sample of survey respondents to assess for PTSD, depression, generalised anxiety disorder and alcohol use disorder.

Results: From 297 clinical interviews (91 career firefighters and 206 volunteer firefighters), 24\% (n = 22) of the career firefighters met diagnosis for any psychiatric disorder. Of these, 3\% met criteria for PTSD, 5\% for depression, 4\% for generalised anxiety disorder, and almost 12\% for alcohol use disorder. The primary regression analyses indicated the following findings for the career firefighters. The main variable associated with each of the four disorders was the respective level of symptoms at baseline. In addition, exposure to more potentially traumatic events in the previous 12 months contributed to, and high job satisfaction associated with the operational aspects of their role protected them against the development of PTSD and depression. Finally, the findings indicated that experiencing more recent life events in the previous 12 months and rank (being a firefighter) contributed to more symptoms of Alcohol Use Disorder. From the interviews 17\% (n = 35) of the volunteer firefighters met diagnosis for any psychiatric disorder. Of these, 2\% met criteria for PTSD, 4\% for depression, 5\% for generalised anxiety disorder, and 6\% for alcohol use disorder. The primary regression analyses indicated that the only predictor of PTSD, generalised anxiety disorder and alcohol use disorder was the respective baseline level for each disorder. The main predictors of depression were baseline level of symptoms of depression and experiencing more recent life events in the previous 12 months.

Conclusions: The relatively low prevalence rates for the career and volunteer firefighters in this study indicate their reasonably good mental health across the four disorders. The rates compare favourably with other firefighter studies and are comparable with the rates in the general population for most disorders. An exception to this was volunteer firefighters{\textquoteright} high rate of alcohol dependence and low rate of PTSD. The findings indicate the importance of fire services developing cultures that support and encourage the early identification and management of symptoms and have systems in place to monitor the types of and frequency of firefighters{\textquoteright} exposure to potentially traumatic events. Finally, particularly for the career firefighters, the findings highlight the protective nature of high job satisfaction associated with operational characteristics of their role and reduced mental health symptoms, and the importance for firefighters and managers to recognise and address reductions in job satisfaction.

}, keywords = {career, firefighter, mental health, volunteer}, doi = {http://hdl.handle.net/11343/230671}, url = {https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/handle/11343/230671}, author = {Heather Bancroft} } @mastersthesis {bnh-5105, title = {An evaluation of youth justice conferencing for youth misuse of fire}, year = {2018}, month = {05/2018}, school = {Queensland University of Technology}, abstract = {

This project involved an evaluation of firefighter involvement in Youth Justice Conferencing to determine whether, and if so how, this program facilitates the prevention of youth misuse of fire. Evaluation comprised quantitative analyses of a decade of Youth Justice Conferencing records and recidivism data, alongside qualitative analysis of program practitioner interviews. Findings revealed that, although there are some areas in need of improvement, Youth Justice Conferencing with firefighter involvement contributes to a reduction in the risk of general recidivism, whilst providing an avenue through which to deliver fire safety education to at-risk groups within the community.

}, keywords = {Arson, child-centred disaster risk reduction, conferencing, Fire, firefighter, juvenile, prevention, restorative, youth justice, youth misuse of fire}, doi = {10.5204/thesis.eprints.116520}, url = {https://eprints.qut.edu.au/116520/}, author = {Kamarah Pooley} } @article {bnh-6998, title = {Firefighter involvement in Youth Justice Conferencing: Implications for fire prevention}, journal = {Fire Safety Journal}, volume = {102}, year = {2018}, month = {12/2018}, pages = {59-65}, abstract = {

In response to the {\textquoteleft}Black Christmas{\textquoteright} bushfire crisis in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, the Premier of NSW called for the utilisation of Youth Justice Conferencing to {\textquoteleft}confront young people with the harm they had caused{\textquoteright} by their misuse of fire. Legislative amendments were subsequently enacted to particularise Youth Justice Conferencing outcome plans to fire-related offences. To facilitate the inclusion of fire-specific outcome plan tasks, Juvenile Justice NSW and Fire and Rescue NSW engaged in a\ Memorandum of Understanding\ to administer\ firefighter\ involvement in Youth Justice Conferencing. Despite operating for over a decade, this approach has only recently attracted empirical inquiry. As part of a broader study, interviews with program developers, conference convenors, program coordinators, and local firefighters were conducted. Content analysis revealed five major concepts that suggest firefighter involvement in Youth Justice Conferencing has implications for fire prevention.

}, keywords = {Fire, firefighter, Juvenile arson, prevention, Youth justice conferencing, youth misuse of fire}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2018.11.003}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0379711218300171?via\%3Dihub}, author = {Kamarah Pooley} } @mastersthesis {bnh-4630, title = {Simulated Self-Paced Wildfire Suppression Work in Different Thermal Conditions}, year = {2015}, month = {10/2015}, pages = {236}, school = {Deakin University}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

There is a substantial body of research investigating the influence of ambient temperature on sport and exercise performance. However, research investigating the effect of heat on the performance of manual-handling work, as performed by personnel across many physically demanding occupations, is relatively scarce. Wildland firefighters are commonly tasked with performing manual-handling work under conditions of high ambient heat, and will likely do so more frequently under a continually warming climate. Heat-related illness also currently represents a substantial threat to the safety and wellbeing of wildland firefighters when on duty. Understanding the role of ambient heat in moderating firefighter performance may be important for wildland fire agencies in forecasting the effectiveness of their workforce. Further, quantifying the physiological response of firefighters working in such conditions may assist in preventing heat-related incidents on the fireground. Therefore, assessing the influence of hot ambient conditions on the work output of wildland firefighters, as well as the magnitude of their thermoregulatory and cardiovascular response, was the primary focus of this thesis. Due to the inherent variability of wildfire behaviour, and the subsequent difficulty in measuring work performance in an operational setting, the current program of research utilised high-fidelity work simulations to assess changes in work output in response to ambient heat. Study 1 investigated the self-selected work output of wildland firefighters in both temperate (18{\textdegree}C) and hot (32{\textdegree}C) ambient conditions over a six-hour simulated shift, and indices of thermal stress (e.g., core temperature) and exertion (e.g., heart rate) were measured. Study 2 reported the cumulative effect of ambient heat on the work performance and physiological response of wildland firefighters performing three consecutive days of simulated wildfire suppression. Finally, Study 3 measured the self-selected work output and thermoregulatory responses of wildland firefighters performing a raking task in both 45{\textdegree}C and 18{\textdegree}C conditions. The adaptive behaviours of firefighters (e.g., in ad-libitum fluid intake) were also documented during all studies. Collectively, the results from these studies provides novel insight into the operational effectiveness of wildland firefighters under a range of ambient conditions, and their concurrent physiological and behavioural responses.\ 

}, keywords = {Decision making, emergency management., exposure, firefighter, fires, temperature}, url = {http://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30082763/larsen-simulatedself-2015A.pdf}, author = {Larsen, Brianna} }