The 8th International Fire Behaviour and Fuels Conference brought together more than 450 delegates including researchers, policy makers, fire managers and Indigenous land stewards for a shared purpose and a different future living with fire.
Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre) research was strongly represented by researchers and partner agencies presenting and sparking discussion about the work being done by the Centre.
Centre Senior Events Officer Vaia Smirneos and NSW and ACT Node Research Manager Dr Rowena Morris ran the Centre’s booth, attend the four concurrent sessions and host a workshop on the last day about Igniting research – Fire Behaviour and Fuels research translation.
The conference started with a welcome by Todd Sculthorpe, a Trawlwoolway man from Tasmania, who highlighted that what we are really seeing is not just a fire problem, but a relationship problem – that knowledge without relationship can only take us so far.
Conference attendees built many new relationships, strengthened existing ones and shared knowledge. The Centre was delighted to be part of and support the relationship building for bushfire management.
Many Centre researchers were on engaging panels discussing:
- Fire and climate change – Dr Mika Peace from the Bureau of Meteorology, Dr Grant Williamson from the University of Tasmania and Dr Hamish Clarke from the University of Melbourne
- Future fires – A/Prof Marta Yebra from the Australian National University
- Bushfire risk meets the housing crunch: Rethinking land use and liability in climate change – Prof David Bowman from the University of Tasmania, A/Prof Phillipa McComack from Adelaide University and Dr Raphaele Blanchi from CSIRO.
- Igniting ideas: Generational insights of fire science – Dr Chloe Begg from the Victorian Country Fire Authority and Simeon Telfer from the South Australian Country Fire Service.
Several other researchers presented findings from the following Centre-funded projects:
- Bushfire risk at the rural–urban interface
- Predictions in public: understanding the design, communication and dissemination of predictive maps to the public
- Fire case studies
- Impact of fires on temperate rainforests in northern New South Wales
- Why fly? How do we know that aerial firefighting operations are effective and efficient?
- Identifying and defining landscape dryness thresholds for fires
Dr Rowena Morris said the energy across the event was fantastic.
“There were plenty of ideas exchanged, honest reflections, and encouraging signs of deeper commitment to translating research into real-world impact,” Dr Morris said.
“Plus, project posters and a collection of fire vehicles were displayed each day and the attendees were able to join informative field trips, such as the immersive trip to showcase how the University of Tasmania’s Fire Centre is tackling the problem of sustainable coexistence with fire in the wildland-urban interface,” she said.
The conference was hosted by the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF), a non-profit professional association committed to a non-partisan approach for uniting the global wildland fire community.
The Centre is proud to support the vital work of connecting science to practice in wildland fire management.