- New Board
Members
- New
Scholarship Program
- Large Air
Tanker trial
- Bushfire
Detection Cameras
- Royal
Commission
- Conference
abstracts – Reminder call
New board members
The Bushfire CRC welcomes in the New Year and a new focus to its
research program with three new members to its Governing Board. They are:
·
Mike Taylor, Chair of the Murray Darling Basin Authority
·
Shane Fitzsimmons, Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire
Service
·
Prof Mark Adams, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and
Natural Resources, University of Sydney.
These appointments will significantly boost the skills of the
Governing Board, in particular in the areas of research, government
relations and agency operations, as it provides guidance and
strategic direction over the coming years.
These members replace Neil Bibby, John Baird and John Gledhill -
each of whom has served the Bushfire CRC with great distinction in
recent years.
New scholarship program
As 2010 gets underway, so does the planning for the new research
agenda of the Bushfire CRC that will commence once the new
Commonwealth Agreement is signed alongside an active research
adoption calendar of events and activities. Much work still needs
to be done to communicate the emerging directions of the Bushfire
CRC and all members will be kept informed of developments over the
coming months.
Members will be aware that it was announced that Bushfire CRC
would receive Australian Government funds to extend its program
from July 2010 to June 2013. The Governing Board of the Bushfire
CRC has now decided that start to the Scholarship program. This
decision has enabled us to advertise widely for new
scholarship students and to begin to put the detail in the
research project plans.
Large Air Tanker
The Victorian Government is funding a trial of a DC-10 air
tanker this bushfire season through the state’s fire fighting
agencies, the Country Fire Authority and the Department of
Sustainability and Environment. The Bushfire CRC will coordinate
this trial. Bushfire CRC researcher Dr Matt Plucinski of CSIRO
Sustainable Ecosystems is the key coordinator.
The trial will evaluate the effectiveness of the DC-10 as an air
tanker and see how it integrates with other current suppression
activities. Several test drops are being planned. If needed,
the DC-10 will also be used in active bushfire suppression and this
will provide additional important data for the trial.
Bushfire Detection Cameras
Bushfire detection cameras are being trialled in Australia this
year by the Bushfire CRC. The cameras have been placed in strategic
positions in Victoria and New South Wales and will be evaluated on
their performance in detecting fire starts, compared with current
methods.
The trial is being conducted by the Bushfire CRC, the Federal
Attorney-General’s Department and Victoria’s Office of
Emergency Services Commissioner (in conjunction with other
Victorian agencies) and NSW Forests.
The main aim of the trial is to compare the performance of fire
detection camera systems from three vendors on their ability
to:
· Detect
fire starts
· Exclude
false detections of fire starts
· Integrate
into fire service systems and processes, including warnings to the
community.
This will be conducted by comparing the systems with
current practices including triple zero calls, fire tower spotters
and aerial surveillance.
This work is being co-ordinated by Dr Stuart Matthews of CSIRO
Sustainable Ecosystems
Royal Commission
The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission continues to
engage the Bushfire CRC with contractual work to assist it in its
task of investigating the impacts of these fires. This is a strong
endorsement of the independent research capabilities of the
Bushfire CRC. Much of what is gathered for the Royal Commission
will eventually be shared with all Bushfire CRC partners and
provide a great resource for researchers and operational staff well
into the future.
Conference abstracts – Reminder Call
This is a reminder call for abstracts for the annual
AFAC/Bushfire CRC conference – if you haven’t submitted
an abstract yet you will need to get moving fast. The deadline is
next Monday 1 February. The 2010 Conference is being held in Darwin
from 8-10 September. For more information visit www.afac10.org
Gary Morgan
CEO
Bushfire CRC
