National Fire Fuels Science webinars

The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and the Australian Academy of Science presented this National Fire Fuels Science Webinars series, which was originally scheduled as a forum for mid-March 2020 in Canberra, coordinated to lay the scientific foundations of a future national approach to hazard reduction burning.

The recorded webinars can be found on the CRC's Hazard Channel, and the presenters' slides and resources can be found via the resources tab below. 

The 2019/20 bushfire season across eastern and southern Australia led to calls for more activity around hazard reduction burning coupled with the announcement of several reviews. This webinar series opened the discussion on the issues, the science, the constraints, the beliefs, the culture, the truths and the myths around hazard reduction burning in Australia.

Wednesday 6 May 2020, 11am-12pm AEST 
The thing about hazard reduction: why is it so difficult and divisive?

• Dr Sarah Harris, Country Fire Authority
• Sascha Rundle, ABC Emergency Broadcasting
• Oliver Costello, Firesticks Alliance
• Justin Leonard, CSIRO

Replay the webinar.

Wednesday 13 May 2020, 11am-12.30pm AEST 
The science of hazard reduction: what do we know, what are the knowledge gaps?

• Dr Neil Burrows, FireNinti Consultancy
• Prof Mike Clarke, La Trobe University
• A/Prof Tina Bell, University of Sydney
• Dr Phil Zylstra, Curtin University
• Prof Mark Adams, Swinburne University of Technology

Replay the webinar. 

Wednesday 20 May 2020, 11am-12.30pm AEST 
The practice of hazard reduction: what are the potentials and limitations?

• Dr Adam Leavesley, ACT Parks and Conservation Service
• Dr Valerie Densmore, WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
• Ruth Ryan, HVP Plantations
• Dr Simon Heemstra, NSW Rural Fire Service

Replay the webinar. 

•        Landscape fuels and mitigation of fire risk (on public and private land)
•        Benefits to fire suppression from prescribed burning
•        The impacts and benefits of prescribed burning on ecosystem values
•        Indigenous and cultural burning as an approach to reduce risk
•        International best practices

Many of these issues are addressed in the current issue of the International Journal of Wildland Fire with a special edition on Adaptive Prescribed Burning in Australia for the Early 21st Century - Context, Status, Challenges.

A book on the subject launched on 28 May through the Centre of Excellence for Prescribed Burning - Prescribed Burning in Australasia: the science, practice and politics of burning the bush. 

The webinar participants were drawn from the CRC and Australian Academy of Science existing network of partners, which includes universities, CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology, all the fire agencies and land management agencies, as well as expertise and knowledge of Indigenous people.

The webinar series was free and open to participants from everywhere, with a special invitation for those from research, fire operations, government (federal, state and local) and industries with a direct role in managing landscapes for fire, including forestry, defence, water and power utilities.

For more information, contact CRC Events Officer Vaia Smirneos on vaia.smirneos@bnhcrc.com.au