Student researcher

Saadmann Eusuf Research Leader

Bushfires are a phenomenon that can't be completely eradicated but the severity can be reduced. Australia is one of the most fire disposed continents in the world, and fire has played a fundamental role in the evolution of Australia’s biota and remains to be a key driver of many of its ecosystems.

Hazard reduction (HR) burning is one of the methods to reduce the severity of bushfire, by thinning the fuel. One of the key factors that are needed to assess the fuel, is the fuel load. Hazard reduction is complicated and hard, the methods are not homogenous. Therefore, a resolute approach needs to be taken to be able to reduce the impact and severity of bushfire, especially in Wildland-urban interface (WUI). Hence, this research takes a voxel-based approach to estimate the volume of fuel load, under tree canopy from LiDAR point cloud data, to be able to precisely estimate the volume of fuel loads in a bushfire prone area, which could assist in the planning of the next Hazard Reduction burn.