Smoke from bushfires is a major health hazard and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Prescribed burning potentially reduces the area of bushfire but also produces its own emissions and smoke. To understand the trade-off between smoke from prescribed burning and reduction of bushfire risk, researchers will model the smoke impact of individual fires based on their intensity, fuel moisture content, proximity to population centres, and the weather and atmospheric conditions. This will help fire managers to plan prescribed burning that minimised the overall impact on human health and the environment.
This research will help us to understand whether prescribed burning can be used to reduce overall population exposure to smoke.
Dynamic mapping of fire regimes, past present and future
Fuel, Flammability and Carbon Dynamics
Fire regime guidelines for conservation of threatened species
Indigenous cultural burning: Exploring the links between cultural revitalisation and wellbeing
Optimising cost-effective bushfire risk mitigation via planned burning
Director, University of Wollongong
Researcher, University of Wollongong