Michael Storey

Michael Storey’s research analysed operational line scan mapping produced by the NSW Rural Fire Service and Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning to understand spot fire behaviour, including distance from main fire front, number of spot fires, their size and their growth. Extreme bushfire behaviour predictions are based on a limited number of observations. Michael’s PhD provides important tools to improve the understanding of spot fire and ember behaviour in dry forests of south east Australia, complementing and improving existing fire behaviour models.

Michael visited the Centre for Forest Fire Studies at the University of Coimbra in Portugal in 2017 to further his knowledge on topographic influence on extreme fire spread, and the behaviour of merging fires, as well as see firsthand the devastation caused by the fires in Portugal just prior to his trip, which took the lives of more than 60 people.

Michael submitted his PhD in February 2021 and as of June, was waiting on confirmation. He is currently an associate research fellow at the University of Wollongong, working as an emissions modeller.