Brendan Pippen PhD Student - recently completed School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences UNSW @ ADFA Canberra   ACT   2600 AUSTRALIA

 

Field of Study - Bushfire Behaviour Modelling

Supervisor: Dr Wendy Anderson (PEMS)

Co-Supervisor: Jim Gould (CSIRO)

Research Topic - Predicting Factors Affecting Fire Behaviour in Heathland Vegetation

Australian Digital Theses Program:
http://www.lib.adfa.edu.au/adt/adt_browse.htm - Pippen

Summary of Work

Fires in Shrubby Fuels

Australia has some of the most fire prone vegetation in the world. Generally regarded as the most volatile fuels are heathlands (shrublands) and sparse dry-sclerophyll eucalypt woodland with a heath understorey. In these fuel types up to 80% of fuel burnt can be live fuels.

The Sydney Sandstone Basin has vast areas of these vegetation types close to its 6,500km of urban interface. Fires in heathland and heathy woodland surrounding Sydney have caused millions of dollars of damage and claimed the lives of a number of people. Following the death of 4 National Parks and Wildlife Service staff in Kuring-Gai-Chase National Park (Jun 2000) a key recommendation of the State Coroner was that there be a burn guide formulated for the Sydney Basin.

A prescribed burning guide is formulated by measuring fires in a given vegetation type and modelling the relationship between the Rate of Spread (ROS) and Dead Fine Fuel Moisture (FFM), Live Fine Fuel Moisture (LFM), fuel characteristics, topography and wind speed at the fire.

Project Overview

This 3 year project, initiated in January 2004, is focused on fuel moisture and fuel availability of heath complexes & woodland with a shrub component in the Sydney Sandstone Basin. Field and laboratory data is being collected and will be used to investigate, develop and test methods for predicting factors that govern fire behaviour in these vegetation types, namely:

• Dead fine fuel moisture (FFM) (<6mm diameter) - Examining the behaviour of litter and elevated fuel hourly for several diurnal cycles, including drying after rain.
  • Sub study – Lab based Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC).
• Live fine fuel moisture (LFFM) (<3mm diameter) - Measuring the live fine fuel moisture content of four common heath (shrub species) and one sedge species fortnightly over two seasonal cycles.

• Seasonal changes in the live to dead ratio of sedges (grass like vegetation).

Application of Results

PhD results will provide fire managers with

• More information on FFM drying after rain ,

• A better understanding of FFM behaviour under equilibrium moisture content , conditions ,

• Improved knowledge on fuel availability ,

• An insight into LFFM behaviour .

Results will provide fire researchers with

• FFM, LFM and sedge curing models for the future development of a prescribed burning guide the Sydney Sandstone Basin.