#Bushfire

Experimenting with fuel and fire

A lot has been learned about fire behaviour from the bushfires that have lashed the Australian continent in the past. But to really refine fire behaviour knowledge, researchers need to put their hypotheses to the test through carefully orchestrated large-scale field experiments.

Up in smoke

In 2006, when fires broke out near Cape Grim, Tasmania, scientists measured the smoke plumes in unprecedented detail, resulting in a more accurate smoke forecasting tool for use in weather forecasting, and for issuing health-related smoke warnings.

How to plan for decisions in the midst of bushfire catastrophe

"It doesn’t matter how many fire hoses you have, you can’t be everywhere at once." So how do you plan ahead for all the decisions you might need to take in the midst of catastrophe? That includes when and where to take shelter.

Mapping fire-prone areas before the fires

Portugal has again been in the grip of wildfires this northern summer. The devastating human and financial toll of bushfires is felt across the globe. In Australia, CSIRO is using expert knowledge and the latest technology to pinpoint areas at risk so they can be better managed into the future.

Spotting the danger of long-distance firebrands

New understanding about the behaviour of 'firebrands’ from ribbon bark eucalypts suggests a change in thinking may be needed to fight fires in extreme conditions.

What Wye River can teach us about building for bushfires

The devastating bushfire that tore through Wye River in 2015 has shown us that resilience to bushfires is about more than just building regulations.

Learning from 100 years of bushfire loss data

Historical data on bushfire losses reveals sobering insight about the human response to catastrophic bushfire conditions, and why our current approach is set to fail.

A spark of hope in predicting bushfire behaviour

The pressure is on to predict where bushfires will start, how fast they’ll spread and which path they’ll take. CSIRO's ‘Spark’ simulation toolkit could be a game-changer.

Safety among the gum trees for Wye River

Our leading bushfire risk expert Justin Leonard has been working with the community and a wider Advisory Panel to develop a set of voluntary guidelines that will help improve the townships resilience to bushfire.