This special November Hazardous Webinar explore what Australia can learn from the Canadian experience of the devastating 2023 and 2024 wildfire seasons. It was brought to you by Natural Hazards Research Australia and AFAC.
This webinar was held from 10:00-11:00am AEDT on 14 November 2024
Speakers:
- Kelsey Winter, Manager Wildfire Operations, FPInnovations (Canada)
- Dr Amy Cardinal Christianson, Policy Advisor, Indigenous Leadership Initiative (Canada)
- Sandra Whight, Executive Director of National Capability, AFAC
- Andrew Gissing, CEO, Natural Hazards Research Australia (host)
The 2024 Canadian fire the season was one of the worst on record for the country, and follows an equally devastating fire season in 2023. Out of the destruction will come lessons identified by research and opportunities for innovations to be applied.
Attendees heard from Canadian experts Kelsey Winter, Manager of Wildfire Operations Research at FPInnovations and Dr Amy Cardinal Christianson, Policy Advisor at the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, on insights into the research learnings, while Sandra Whight, Executive Director of National Capability at AFAC, discussed the value of research and knowledge from others, alongside learnings about resource sharing between Australia and Canada.
Speakers:
Kelsey Winter is the Manager of Wildfire Operations Research at FPInnovations, a national not-for-profit that specialises in creating solutions that accelerate the growth of the Canadian forest sector. Kelsey's team utilises operations research projects and empirical evidence to assist wildfire agency partners in increasing their positive impacts in the wildfire management ecosystem. She has a background in Natural Resources, Fire Ecology and Fire Management and before FPInnovations worked for the British Columbia Wildfire Service for over a decade.
Dr Amy Cardinal Christianson is a Métis woman who works with Indigenous Nations across Canada on fire stewardship practices like cultural burning and collaborates with Indigenous peoples from around the world on decolonising land management. Amy is a policy advisor at the Indigenous Leadership Initiative. She also studies wildfire evacuations and advocates for Indigenous wildland firefighters. Amy also co-hosts the Good Fire podcast, which looks at Indigenous fire use around the world, and is a member of Natural Hazards Research Australia’s International Research Advisory Panel.
Sandra Whight is the Executive Director of National Capability at AFAC. She is also a non-executive Director on the Natural Hazards Research Australia Board. She has nearly 30 years of operational emergency management experience, starting in land management and remote area firefighter, becoming fire behaviour and bushfire risk specialist, and then leading initiatives and significant change at organisational, state and national levels. Sandy is passionate about using science and contemporary research, and risk-based approaches to shape policy and prepare communities to be resilient and safer from the impacts of fire and other natural hazards.
Andrew Gissing (host) is the Chief Executive Officer of Natural Hazards Research Australia.