This project will evaluate historical backburns by identifying their objective, fate and the conditions that they occurred in, to develop guidance for fire managers to assess risks associated with proposed future back burns.

The research will draw on the largest sample size possible, relying mostly on data from the 2019/20 bushfire season in NSW. It will use data from the NSW RFS Icon archives for the location, timing, objectives and fate of the fire and fuel condition; Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) data for weather; and other ancillary mapping information such as topography, dead and live fuel moisture. The methods will involve a mixture of automated and manual data extraction, statistical modelling, detailed case studies examining cases in extreme fire behaviour, and a desktop analysis of threatened species’ habitats that have been affected by back burns.

(Image: NSW DCCEEW)