The 2008 AFAC Bushfire CRC Conference held in Adelaide saw
approximately 1100 delegates and 100 trade exhibitors attending the
four day workshop and seminar program. The conference, Fire:
Environment and Society, featured the Bushfire CRC’s
International Research Conference and included a wide range of
international, Australasian and local speakers who presented on
issues that stimulated, informed and entertained.
The conference caters to researchers,
practitioners, professionals and senior managers, intent on
understanding the scientific research and best practice in
areas of, wildfire management, urban fire and rescue and rural
urban interfaces issues.
The conference was opened by the South Australian Governor His
Excellency Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, and featured a key note
address from Len Foster AO, Chairman of the Bushfire CRC.
Mr Foster spoke about the need for firefighting resources and
knowledge to keep pace with a world that is heating up and bringing
the potential of more severe and more frequent bushfires.
“This is the real challenge we are facing today. Because
at the present rate we do not have enough resources and we are not
generating enough knowledge about fire to ensure that we meet the
challenges of the changing world,” he said.
AFAC President Euan Ferguson launched the AFAC Knowledge Web and
opened the knowledge sharing website for use and comment by the
industry.
Key note speakers at the conference included, John Keeley from
UCLA who presented “Balancing Fire Hazard Reduction and
Resource Protection in an Era of Megafires”. John
discussed the relative roles of climate, weather and past fire
management practices that have contributed to these extreme fire
events.
Professor Drew Dawson from the Centre for Sleep Research,
University of South Australia discussed how the potential for
fatigue to create risk is quite high in volunteer workforces where
the volunteer work sits on top of full time work and other
commitments. He discussed how the one thing that firefighting teams
can do to alleviate issues related to fatigue, is simply
acknowledge and be aware of the risk that fatigue posses, once this
is done, then working out how to manage it is relatively simple and
straight forward.
The third keynote speaker, Petteri Vuorinen from FAO United
Nations spoke on fire management voluntary guidelines.
The conference program included presentations on fire
fighting techniques, incident management, community safety,
climate change, fuel management, demographics and its effects
on volunteering and firefighter health and safety.
Bushfire CRC researcher Briony Towers spoke about a child
focused model of bushfire risk perception that she has been
developing for fire agencies and educators to use to develop more
effective education programs. Based at the University of
Tasmania Briony interviewed more than 200 children, ranging from
five years of age to adolescents at high school, about whether they
think they're at risk of being affected by bushfire. (Read
more about her work, here.)
Andrew Dowdy, a Bushfire CRC researcher at the Centre for
Australian Weather and Climate Research spoke about potential
methods which could be used to forecast dry lightning (i.e.
lightning which occurs without significant rainfall). Methods based
on atmospheric stability and low-level moisture content could
potentially forecast the probability of dry lightning out to
several days in advance throughout Australia. He also suggested
that dry lightning forecasts could be combined with fuel moisture
indices to forecast the probability of fires caused by
lightning.
Catherine Dunlop from Maddocks Solicitors presented on what is
good practice in inquiries after major incidents. While
inquiries are important, and the industry learns a lot from them,
they can also be very stressful. Catherine has been working with
AFAC to look at what are the things about inquiries that work
really well so the industry can take these ideas to the government
to discuss how inquiries can be more effective.
Alan Rhodes, a Bushfire CRC researcher at the CFA in Victoria
gave a presentation on the recent research on the human dimensions
of 'stay or go, or leave early', which highlights major challenges
in implementing the approach. These challenges include the
different understanding of the options by many residents, the
variable and often inappropriate levels of preparation, the lack of
comprehensive planning by residents and the difficulties of
providing accurate and specific information during fires.
Alan’s presentation provided an overview of the evidence
that suggests that a significant proportion of those at risk are
unwilling or unable to adopt the advice or implement it
effectively, and that the advice may be inappropriate in some
circumstances.
The evidence raises major issues for fire agencies about the
'stay or go, or leave early' position. Agencies need to better
understand what they are asking the community to do and find new
ways to address community needs.
Dr Michelle Tuckey discussed new research by the University of
South Australia which found that volunteer firefighters, who felt
they were a useful and respected part of a team, were less likely
to feel mental strain after incidents. A study of 547 South
Australian Country Fire Service volunteers showed that most were
motivated by the physical and mental demands of fire fighting.
However, it was the emotional demands that contributed to greater
mental strain and burnout. Dr Tuckey found that camaraderie had a
consistent protective effect, being associated with lower levels of
strain and burnout. Camaraderie was also increasingly more
effective at buffering against stress as the level of emotional
demands faced by volunteer fire-fighters increased.
This year also saw the inclusion of thematic sessions; a series
of interactive sessions that provided delegates an opportunity to
participate in open forums on a range of topics. The
sessions, which promoted a number of lively debates and exchanges,
looked at the need for a lessons learnt centre, volunteerism, fire
regime management: a Kangaroo Island case study, and community
engagement during fires.
The trade exhibit was well supported by industry suppliers and
also featured a Knowledge Web internet kiosk to coincide with the
official launch. Initial feedback from the conference
delegates was very supportive of the project.
Conference papers and presentations are now available on
the AFAC Knowledge Web: www.afac-kw.com
The conference received wide coverage from state and national
ABC Radio including coverage on a dedicated ABC website. You can
visit the ABC site to read and listen to a wide range of interviews
from the conference: http://www.abc.net.au/adelaide/features/bushfire/default.htm
Incident Response Workshop
Seventy five fire and land management agency personnel
participated in the Bushfire CRC Incident Response
interactive workshop before the Bushfire CRC/AFAC conference in
Adelaide.
The workshop was designed for those engaged in
incident management of level 2 and 3 incidents or those in
management positions or aspiring to in the near future.
Participants represented most land management and fire
agencies in Australasia with a strong representation from
senior personnel.
As a new way of conducting a workshop for the annual
conference, problem based learning principles were used so that
participants could provide insights on what worked well and what
needed refining.
To build problem based learning three components to the
workshop were used:
-
presentations of Bushfire CRC research;
-
a fire scenario with small group discussions;
and
-
practitioner reflections.
Problem based learning is based on the principle that when
learners engage in solving problems the benefits are allegedly
higher-order thinking, deeper learning and longer retention of
knowledge – a key to effective research adoption.
Bushfire CRC researchers at the workshop
included:
Practitioners, Robyn Pearce (TFS), Andrew Lawson (CFS) and
Liam Fogarty (DSE), reflected on the integration of research and
practice while Russell Rees (CFA) played the role of moderator,
stimulating thinking by drawing connections between research and
practice - past, present and future.
After the workshop, participants rated highly the
group discussions and the quality of research presentations.
The integration of research across several Bushfire CRC
research programs (fire behaviour, air toxics, fire fighter
safety and Incident Management Teams) was a strength of the
workshop.
Suggested areas for improvement included more time for
group discussions, clearer group outcomes and better targeting of
the right personnel.
Participant responses included:
‘Now [I am] aware of the level of knowledge and
can use this information to improve work practices and introduce
new standards’.
‘A very good workshop that could be used for
other pieces of work (research).’
‘It is I think the first time research has been
so well integrated (in a workshop) across programs with emphasis on
practice.’
‘Good applications for staff on fire
ground.’
‘Useful for training of fire ground leaders to
rotate crews, higher work rates then periods of rest and rotate
exposure to smoke.’
Where to next?
The Bushfire CRC has consulted the fire and land
management industry to determine whether using problem based
principles in a workshop was worth refining. This consultation also
identified content areas the industry saw as suitable for future
workshops.
A recent online survey of Bushfire CRC partners showed
that the approach was worth refining and the potential content
areas identified were:
(This article first appeared in the Summer 2008/09 issue
of Fire Australia magazine.)
