From PhD to fire agency

A former CRC student has moved interstate to use findings from his PhD in a new role with one of the world’s largest operational fire agencies.

Dr Alex Holmes completed his CRC PhD in February 2018 at Monash University, and is now working as a research officer at the NSW Rural Fire Service.

Investigating the effects of soil moisture, temperature and precipitation extremes on fire risk and intensity in an Australian context was the focus of Dr Holmes’ PhD.

“The research showed that fire intensity increases logarithmically with decreasing moisture.

“This means that larger and more intense fires are likely to occur closer to population centres located around the coasts of Australia as climate change exacerbates drought conditions,” Alex says.

Alex’s thesis contributes to a better understanding of the land-climate processes leading to forest fires and their intensity. It will also assist land managers with better allocation of water resources across Australia.

The thesis analyses the relationship between soil moisture, extreme temperatures, precipitation and heat outputs from a fire.

“My research has provided agencies with a better understanding of the mechanics behind soil moisture deficits and their influence on fire intensity.

“Using this knowledge, agencies are able to target specific areas under moisture stress to mitigate fuel loads and associated fire risks,” Dr Holmes says.

At the NSW RFS Alex is responsible for researching potential improvements in the models used by the National Fire Danger Ratings System.

“My day-to-day activities involve producing computer programs and code to manipulate and create datasets as well as analyse their physical properties.

“There is a lot of collaboration with the National Fire Danger Rating System team through meetings and discussion along with partners from the Bureau of Meteorology and other agencies,” Dr Holmes says.

Dr Holmes also worked as a research assistant at Monash where he was involved in the presentation and publication of research across several areas including smoke emissions and fire mapping.

He has also been involved in reviewing literature for several research areas.

“I am also interested in the effects of climate change on fire dynamics as well as their likely risk."

Alex started his PhD in 2013 after completing his Masters in atmospheric sciences and meteorology at ETH in Switzerland.