Severe fire behaviour characterisation

Severe fire behaviour characterisation - describing the spread of bushfires and the effect of land use planning responses in reducing bushfire risk.

This research is being undertaken for the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI).

Project Brief

The projects aims to:

• better describe the spread of bushfires and the effect of land use planning responses in reducing bushfire risk;
• develop a better ember launch and transport model;
• relate the model to ember attack levels on dwellings and spotfire development; and
• validate the model against documented fire events.

The project will provide DEPI with:

• quantification of convective strength across the landscape and validate it against documented fire events;
• an algorithm to improve convective up draught strength to calculate maximum local wind strength; and
• improved PHOENIX RapidFire characterisation and improved understanding of bushfire risk and the assessment of treatment options for improved planning responses through the development of specific planning modules.