Dynamic mapping of fire regimes, past present and future

To understand how to best use and manage fire to protect people, property and the environment in the future, we need to understand historic patterns.

The research team is collating, mapping and analysing historical fire data to understand patterns of intensity, severity, spread, return interval and smoke dispersion, with a focus on changes in climate. We will provide fire managers with a set of evidence-based planning tools to aid in understanding of fire regimes and weather to improve the use of fire for risk management.

What we’re doing:

• Developing an online tool that uses historic fire and vegetation data to aid in hazard reduction burn planning
• Analysing historic fire data to improve our understanding of fire return intervals across NSW ecosystems
• Analysing climate data to understand changes in the drivers of extreme fire behaviour in the past and future
• Developing interactive tools to explore fire and climate trends, and trade-offs in emissions from planned burns and wildfires

This research will expand our knowledge to manage hazard reduction burns. We’ll look at how we can better manage and lessen the impacts of planned burns, and how they can be better used to manage future fire patterns under a changing climate.

See a AFAC seminar on Firetools here: FireTools Cloud AFAC Webinar