Identifying future bushfire hotspots and risk mitigation opportunities: a Western Australian case study

The research conducted through the Improved decision support for natural hazard risk reduction project is based on the premise that to reduce both the risk and cost of natural hazards, an integrated approach is needed to consider multiple hazards and a range of mitigation options.

There are two Hazard Notes summarising the utilisation of this research: 

This Hazard Note (Hazard Note 109) demonstrates that the Unified Natural Hazard Risk Mitigation Exploratory Decision support system (UNHaRMED), also developed through this project, can be used to assist fire and land managers in developing policies that build well-prepared and resilient communities. UNHaRMED, a  framework and software tool that can be used to assess natural hazards risk in the face of uncertain climate and socio-economic conditions, was used in conjunction with end-user consultation and local bushfire risk management plans to identify areas of emerging bushfire risk (due to climate change and population growth) in Western Australia. Three simulation scenarios were tested in UNHaRMED to identify future bushfire hotspots and quantify bushfire risk in these regions.

Hazard Note 108 outlines the development of the Fuel Management Suitability Tool, a digital spatial modelling application that assess the suitability of a range of fuel management options for any location based on a variety of features to provide fire and land managers with a centralised source of information to help plan fuel management strategies.