Disaster inquiries and assessing flammability popular online

Two unique resources developed through Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC research are proving popular online, helping to investigate previous disaster inquiries and the flammability of vegetation nation-wide.

These tools have varied uses from providing a clearer picture of immediate fire risks using satellite data, to exploring and comparing recommendations from emergency management inquiries.

One of the most popular pages on the CRC website currently is the Inquiries and Reviews Database, which was launched in October last year. Since its launch, the database resource has had 3,205 unique page viewers.

The database contains a catalogue of 300 inquiries and reviews relating to emergency management and natural hazards across all jurisdictions in Australia between 1886 and 2017.  

Users can freely search and filter inquiries and reviews by year, keywords and disaster and inquiry type. Users can also isolate individual recommendations or compare recommendations against different inquiries and themes.

Calls for a royal commission into the bushfires, as well as individual states announcing inquiries, generated widespread use of the inquiries database to look up previous royal commissions and other inquiries related to bushfires in Australia. The ABC ran an article about disaster inquiries, referencing the database, while a Conversation piece by A/Prof Kevin Tolhurst linked to it. The most trafficked day so far has been 16 January with 1,405 views, which coincided with A/Prof Tolhurst’s Conversation article, as well as it being republished by the ABC.

Also growing in popularity is the Australian Flammability Monitoring System. Developed by Dr Marta Yebra through the Mapping bushfire hazard and impacts project, AFMS uses satellite data to collect information on live moisture content in tree, shrubs and grass, effectively providing a clearer picture of immediate fire risks.

It displays this information on an interactive map to provide a clear picture of the landscape where there are high levels of vegetation and soil dryness—perfect conditions for a bushfire—helping fire managers in their prescribed burning efforts and prepositioning of firefighting resources.

The first online mapping tool of its kind to be introduced in Australia, the prototype system is garnering attention and interest from the public as well as fire managers. AFMS has had a total 1500 visits since November last year, with an average of 15 sessions per day.

Dr Yebra has spent time with the NSW Rural Fire Service, assisting them with using AFMS to analyse data on vegetation conditions and how these conditions might affect bushfire spread. She also wrote an opinion piece for The Canberra Times on 9 February, calling for better use of satellites to support fire management by providing more information on fire spread and behaviour and showcasing AFMS.