Conference Proceedings
Effectiveness of automated fuelsticks for predicting the moisture content of dead fuels in Eucalyptus forests
W Bovill, S Hawthorne, J Radic, C Baillie, A Ashton, P Noske, P Lane, G Sheridan, T Weber (ed.), MJ McPhee (ed.), RS Anderssen (ed.)
21ST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON MODELLING AND SIMULATION (MODSIM2015) | MODELLING & SIMULATION SOC AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND INC | Published : 2015
Abstract
The fuel moisture content (FMC) of forest litter strongly affects fire ignition and behaviour, and is a key factor in planning when and where to burn. Planned burns are safest and most efficient when FMC lies within a narrow range (9 % - 17 %). Drier fuels (17% FMC) may fail to ignite and/or burn poorly. Planned burning is associated with real risks of escape, and large annual operational costs (e.g. in the order of several $100M's per year in several Australian states), but in the absence of reliable estimates of FMC, fire behaviour predictions are compromised, and many burning opportunities may be missed, leading to the inefficient allocation of resources and compromising strategic bur..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge DELWP for providing financial assistance for this research. We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments during the review process.