Bushfire reconstructions: developing a data solution to support simulator evaluation

Fire agencies use bushfire simulators for operational bushfire response, strategic risk assessment and to assess our effectiveness in reducing bushfire risk through fuel management.

Victoria’s key operational fire simulator is currently Phoenix Rapidfire. Phoenix has been in use operationally in Victoria since 2009 and continues to serve fire agencies exceptionally well. However, as new bushfire simulators are developed, and developments are made to Phoenix Rapidfire, it is essential to validate their performance against real-world conditions.

Bushfire reconstructions are an excellent way to validate the performance of a bushfire simulator as they document the actual spread and behaviour of bushfires. There have been many bushfire reconstructions completed since the 1980s, which could be used in the testing and validation of bushfire simulators. However, these reconstructions are not standardised or collated in a centralised repository.

The specific objectives of this project are to:

1. compile existing disparate data sets to develop an underlying bushfire reconstruction database
2. develop the database in an environment and format that incorporates existing Python code and APIs.