Even if the proper infrastructure is implemented, it’s hard to say what course of action could possibly extinguish a fast-moving rural bushfire within an hour.
Locally managed hazard reduction could give communities greater ownership over prevention and leverage local knowledge.
David Bowman
Local, self organised, community groups can be supported to do strategic hazard reduction through a range of techniques – including targeted grazing, and prescribed or fuel reduction burning.
In many countries including America, computer models are being used to predict how a fire will burn.
The convergence of technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and virtual reality may offer hope for the way we manage future bushfire disasters.
Many people in fire-prone areas may have weak phone signals - or none at all, if they’re located in a mobile black spot.
JOEL CARRETT/AAP
Service outages, network congestion and infrastructure at risk of being destroyed by fire are some of the issues worsening an already devastating situation.
Fire rages through the forest in a typical Australian bushfire.
Flickr/HighExposure
Australians are still underprepared for bushfires. And with fire seasons getting longer thanks to climate change we need to look at why people are still dying in fires, and what you can do to get prepared.
While firefighters battled widespread fires in New South Wales in October 2013, hundreds of thousands of people turned to social media and smartphone apps for vital updates.
AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts
Terry Flew, Queensland University of Technology and Axel Bruns, Queensland University of Technology
When disaster strikes, more people than ever are turning to social media to find out if they’re in danger. But Australian emergency services need to work together more to learn what works to save lives.
Bushfires such as this one in Western Australia can be hard to predict.
CSIRO
Controlling bushfire risk by burning a set percentage of land every year sounds sensible - but a more sophisticated approach is needed to truly safeguard both humans and wildlife in rural areas.
Kinglake Road after Black Saturday Fires.
Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC
This summer has seen a predictable share of fires in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia, flooding in Queensland, and several severe thunderstorms. However, there are already…
The South Australian bushfires have destroyed many homes including this one in Greenwith in the outer suburbs of Adelaide.
AAP Image/David Mariuz
Dozens of homes and outbuildings have been destroyed in bushfires that have ravaged parts of South Australia reminding us again how poorly adapted we are to bushfire prone landscapes. With 15 years experience…
Who gets to survive when fire ravages the food and cover of native animals?
Flickr/Alastair Smith
Bushfires are a part of life in Australia, and when they have run their course we pick up where we left off and carry on. But if you happen to be a small animal, surviving the bushfire is only the start…
Forests logged in the past two decades burned more severely the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.
AAP Image/Andrew Brownbill
Victoria’s forest management policies need to be urgently reviewed in response to the discovery that logging can contribute to the severity of bushfires in wet forests, like the devastating fires on Black…
When bushfires start, no one should be more worried than people with disabilities. Recent research shows people with disabilities are twice as likely to die or be injured than the general population during…
The aftermath of the bushfires that swept through the Blue Mountains last October.
AAP Image/High Alpha
News images of traumatised homeowners huddled in front of the ashes of their homes have become increasingly familiar in recent years. But the question has to be asked - why are we so often surprised when…
People living in the bush can’t rely too heavily on controlled burn-offs to protect their home.
AAP Image/Channel Ten
After the early onset of the 2013-14 bushfire season, it is worth reviewing which homes are more likely to be left standing when the fires inevitably return. One of the most important factors to note is…
Sydney’s environment evolved with fire.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Even without the official tally it looks like the fires that started yesterday in Blue Mountains will be the most costly in terms of property since 1968. But how have they come about? Why is the area vulnerable…
Bushfire modelling predicted the Dunalley fires a day before they happened, but that’s not the whole story.
AAP Image/News Limited Pool, Chris Kidd)
This week the Tasmanian government released its inquiry into the January 2013 bushfires that destroyed numerous properties on the Tasmanian Peninsula. A key finding is that modelling predicted fires would…