Southern Australia Seasonal Fire Assessment Workshop 2014

The Seasonal Bushfire Outlook for southern Australia is used by fire authorities to make strategic decisions on resource planning and prescribed fire management for the upcoming fire season. The outlook is decided at an annual workshop convened by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council.

The Southern Australian Seasonal Bushfire Assessment Workshop was hosted by the Tasmania Fire Service in Hobart on 21 August. The workshop, supported by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and AFAC, brought together fire and land managers, climatologists and meteorologists to evaluate the upcoming season for the southern part of Australia.

The group discussed the weather, landscape conditions and cross-border implications leading into summer and determined areas that had the potential for a fire season that was above normal, normal or below normal. Attendees included representatives of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, AFAC, the Bureau of Meteorology, Tasmania Fire Service, the Australian Capital Territory Emergency Service Agency, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, South Australia’s Country Fire Service, Victoria’s Country Fire Authority and Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Western Australia’s Department of Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

The Southern Australia Seasonal Bushfire Outlook and the earlier Northern Australia Seasonal Bushfire Outlook provide information to assist fire authorities in making strategic resource and planning decisions leading into the fire season.

The Southern Australia Seasonal Bushfire Outlook 2014-15 was released as a Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Hazard Note in September 2014.