Fire research that has left a deep and lasting lesson and teaching legacyin Australia

The success of aerial burning extended beyond Australia, influencing fire management practices globally. It offered a scalable, efficient, and safe solution to the challenge of managing vast forested landscapes under mild weather conditions.

Ongoing research challenges

As outlined in the review, current research sometimes downplays the importance of prescribed burning and fails to address practical failures in fire management. Another issue that is receiving inadequate research attention is the issue of current long intervals between burns, sometimes up to 60 years, and this has led to dangerously high fuel loads across landscapes. The same applies to research to reduce the extent of devastating mega bushfires across landscapes, such as 2019/ 20 bushfires.

The review calls for renewed attention to effective mitigation, tackling high fuel loads and strata, better consideration of lightning strike scenarios in high fuel loads and improved foci on community, firefighter and ecosystem safety in relation to intense bushfires.

A path forward

Fire research is critical in the development of effective fire management strategies. It is important that research programs soundly progress research, including effective mitigation programs, regular prescribed burning, aerial prescribed burning development, fire behaviour and fuels, fire effects, Aboriginal and human burning, unnatural fire regimes, severe fire events, eucalypt decline, bushfire suppression, and effective lesson capture.

Community, firefighter and ecosystem safety is receiving inadequate research attention and definitely management attention and action in relation to intense bushfires. More disaster are not far away and much more needs to be done. If in doubt, go for a drive around coastal and mountain communities.

As fire risks evolve, fuel loads increase and understories across landscapes increase (from intense bushfires and eucalypt decline), it is crucial to revisit and apply research lessons and assess research directions with renewed urgency to optimise community, firefighter and ecosystem safety in relation to intense bushfires.