February 2010

• New directions
• Black Saturday community survey
• Protecting firefighters - online resource
• DC-10 trial in the air
• Demand for annual report

New directions

Last week, the Executive Management Team of the Bushfire CRC met to map out the short and long term future of the Bushfire CRC.

We are now in a period where the initial seven year period of the Bushfire CRC program has moved from a research activity focus to provision of research outputs that can be adopted by industry. The next shift of emphasis is to the new three year research program, which is being developed, and a longer term focus on how best to provide industry with its knowledge needs on an ongoing basis.

Bushfire CRC staff were joined by two of the new principal scientific advisers, Professor Rod Keenan of the University of Melbourne and Professor John Handmer of RMIT University, at the Australian Emergency Management Institute at Mt Macedon.

The purpose of the meeting was to address all the issues that are needed to take us forward.

This included a number of priorities such as:

• Ensuring the best processes are in place to manage research outputs, online content, and internal business systems.
• Maintaining the high profile of the Bushfire CRC both amongst all partners and in the wider community.
• Continuing with a strong output of publications and other research products that meet the needs of industry

The Bushfire CRC Strategic Directions 2007-2010 document, which was presented to the Governing Board in late 2007, was substantially reinvigorated by the discussion. A new strategic directions document with a longer term outlook will be presented later to the Governing Board for its approval.

Survey of Black Saturday Communities

A survey designed to help better understand residents’ actions in the 7 February 2009 Victorian bushfires has been conducted and analysed as part of the more extensive Bushfire CRC Research Taskforce work on the Black Saturday fires.

Building on the 600 face-to-face interviews with residents in fire affected areas, the Task Force survey was sent to more than 6000 households in October 2009.

The survey gathered information on how the 7 February bushfires affected people and their property. It included how information and warnings were received and understood; the level of householder planning; and peoples’ preparation and response to the bushfires.

This research was funded by the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment, the Country Fire Authority and the Office of the Emergency Services Commissioner.

Download the Second Report on Human Behaviour and Community Safety or the Executive Summary
Or read the media release

Protecting Firefighters – an online resource

Following on from the good work that was achieved at last September’s Bushfire CRC/AFAC Annual Conference, more useful outputs from the pre conference workshops are now available for our industry as part of the ongoing focus by the Bushfire CRC on research adoption.

I encourage you to view our new Protecting Firefighters Information Package, which combines the research projects on Safe Behaviour and Decision Making, Effective Incident Management Teams, and Firefighter Health and Safety. It is also available  on the Knowledge Web.

The package includes summaries of presentations made at the Protecting Firefighters Workshop as well as an array of supporting written and visual materials.

The package will be supplemented by new products as they develop and is designed primarily to assist with sharing basic information on this important research. A Fire Update will be published soon to more broadly promote this package. And please, let us know what you think. Your feedback will help shape upcoming projects.

DC-10 trial gets in the air

As mentioned in my previous newsletter, the Bushfire CRC is conducting a trial of the DC-10 air tanker in Victoria.

Since then, we have conducted trials over eucalypt bushland in the Wombat State Forest, an hour west of Melbourne, on grasslands near Avalon where the plane is based, and at a Mallee fire in the north-west of Victoria.

All the data collected from these flights will be analysed for a report at the conclusion of the trial period in March.

Demand for Annual Report exceeds expectations

Our Annual Report 2008-9 was recently mailed to all Bushfire CRC partners. We have had a number of requests for additional copies and are endeavouring to meet this demand as soon as possible. The report is a succinct statement on the year’s activities accompanied by other information in a summary form that some partners are finding useful when dealing with both internal and external audiences. If you would like more copies contact Vaia.Smirneos@bushfirecrc.com

The Annual Report is now also online.

Gary Morgan
CEO
Bushfire CRC