Research addresses gaps in fire behaviour understanding

Photo courtesy South Australian Country Fire Service Photo courtesy South Australian Country Fire Service

 

Groundbreaking research from CFA, CSIRO and South Australian Country Fire Service (SACFS) has produced the first comprehensive data of fire behaviour in canola stubble.

 

Firefighters and farmers have been seeing if for years. Sometimes fire races through harvested canola, and sometimes it simply stops.

To find out why, researchers deliberately set fire to the stubble in harvested canola paddocks.  

Research of this kind has never been been done in canola stubble before. The findings have important implications for fire prediction and suppression.

Does canola burn differently to grass? Can Australia’s fire prediction models be improved? 

Click here to learn what the research team found

This research was presented at this year’s AFAC Conference in Melbourne.  

Photos and footage courtesy CSIRO and SACFS.

 

Submitted by Alison Smirnoff and Shaunnagh O'Loughlin