August 12, 2014
Queenslanders have been told to brace for a longer-than-normal bushfire season.
“According to the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, Queensland is likely to have an above average fire season this year as there is a 50 per cent chance of El Nino weather patterns starting in September,” Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Lee Johnson said today.
“This weather pattern would mean above-average temperatures and below-average winter/spring rainfall which would result in increased grass and forest fuel loads.
“During the last El Nino weather event in 2009, there were 16,000 vegetation fires, a 30 per cent increase compared to the 12,500 fires we see in an average season.
“If an El Nino event does occur this bushfire season, we could potentially see increased fire danger periods, increased fire incidents and an extended fire season.”
However, the QFES will have a new Australian-developed fire modelling tool on hand this season.
“Phoenix” is a fire behaviour modelling program that captures the nature of a bushfire as it spreads across the landscape.
As a bushfire spreads, Phoenix captures characteristics such as flame height, intensity, size and ember density, turning the information into a data set that can then be displayed in Google Earth.
“The program was developed by Melbourne University with funding from the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre and is already being used operationally in Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales,” Commissioner Johnson said.
Emergency Services Minister JAck Dempsey said continued vigilance was needed to reduce the risk of severe bushfires this year.
He said that since April, firefighters and various government and private land fire management stakeholders had burnt in excess of 421,000 hectares of land in more than 4900 hazard reduction burns.
“Our RFSQ brigades have taken steps to ensure they are well trained and equipped to help their communities throughout the season, however they still need assistance from residents to prepare for a potentially busy bushfire season this year,” Mr Demspey said.
“Being prepared and planning what you will do if you are affected by a bushfire could be the difference between life and death.”
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Raw video from today’s press conference by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Lee Johnson, Emergency Services Minister Jack Dempsey and Acting Deputy Commissioner for Emergency Service Volunteers Bryan Cifuentes:
