Fire agencies, land management departments and researchers are encouraged to share their knowledge of existing bushfire data as part of Natural Hazards Research Australia's Bushfire information database project, which aims to map all data related to bushfires in Australia.
Both the 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements and the 2020 NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry found that Australia does not have a national centralised bushfire information database that can be used to understand bushfire trends, including intensity, extent and efficacy of mitigation activities. This means that policy and decision-makers currently do not have access to all the credible information required for evidence-informed practice.
This project is a response to these findings, with researchers aiming to identify and determine current data and systems, knowledge gaps, data needs and availability, to provide recommendations on what an ideal National Bushfire Information Database could contain.
You can help map bushfire data by providing information about bushfire-related datasets using this short online form. Examples of the types of data related to bushfire include:
- environmental (e.g., vegetation, climate related, topography, etc.)
- social (e.g., travel/daily activity diaries, demographic information, mitigation behaviours, preparedness/risk assessments, etc.)
- economic (e.g., economic impacts of disasters, mitigation costs, etc.)
- emergency (e.g., evacuation/public response behaviour, emergency response logistics, etc.)
- built environment (e.g., building damage, building and planning, utility and infrastructure access, post-bushfire surveys, regulations, etc.)
- bushfire (e.g., extent, ignition, etc.)
- any other data you think might be relevant to understand bushfires.
This project is supported by the University of Sydney, RMIT University and CSIRO. The research team comprises Dr Nader Naderpajouh from the University of Sydney; Dr Erica Kuligowski, A/Prof Nirajan Shiwakoti, Prof Matt Duckham and Dr Tariq Maqsood from RMIT University; and Dr Raphaele Blanchi and Dr Alessio Arena from CSIRO.