Published works

In response to the information requirements expressed by end users, the Bushfire & Natural Hazards CRC project ‘Mapping Bushfire Hazards and Impacts’ (Project A1) developed the Australian Flammability Monitoring System (AFMS)
website (version 1.0). The AFMS makes spatial information on fuel condition and flammability easier and faster to access.

This report summarises feedback received from end users and discusses priorities for future development that may potentially be addressed by the BNHCRC and the project team in future.

All end users involved in the project, and participating in several seminars and presentations featuring the AFMS, recognised the value of the system to improve fire management in Australia. However, they also identified some significant barriers to adoption by the Australian bushfire sector. Firstly, neither FMC nor FI are presently used in any models or systems. This means that the sector needs to explore the information and develop work processes for using it. Another key barrier is the timeliness of the system. It presently takes 15 days to acquire the satellite data, process and publish. This delay is too long to allow practitioners to trial the system during operations.

Consequently, future priorities for further development should focus on activities that will contribute to strengthening the usability of the AFMS and adoption. As a first step, we need to invest more time working with end users to develop specific operational applications and integrate the information displayed in the AFMS into current decision processes and tools (e.g. the ACT Parks and Conservation Service’s Prescribe Burn Decision Tool). Meanwhile, we also need to improve timeliness, robustness, visual presentation and explanation of the information displayed on the AFMS website to make it easier for users to extract the important details.

The implementation of the AFMS into daily fire management operations will take fire management in Australia to a new level.