Northern Territory Practices in Bushfire Control
Medical, Biological and other Sciences
PLEASE NOTE
- It is preferred that the intern will be based locally, however remote candidates will be considered with visits to Darwin as appropriate.
ABOUT THE INDUSTRY PARTNER
Natural Hazards Research Australia is Australia’s national centre for natural hazard resilience and disaster risk reduction.
The Centre was funded for 10 years by the Australian Government on 1 July 2021 as a collaborative research organisation, to address the major challenges arising from natural hazards, including bushfires, floods, cyclones, heatwaves, storms and other hazards. The aim is to deliver usable research and knowledge that creates safer and more resilient communities.
The Centre works in the broad emergency management and disaster resilience sector with partners in all states and territories, federal, state and local governments, key industry bodies, the private and not-for-profit sectors, research and other organisations with a stake in protecting Australian communities.
This project will be hosted in partnership with Bushfires NT. Bushfires NT provides fire management support in the fire protection zones across the Northern Territory (NT).
They’re responsible for supporting landholders in managing and mitigating bushfires, providing support and training to volunteer bushfire brigades across the Territory, and coordination and management of aerial firefighting capability across the Top End.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?
- Technical Research in business. Application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis to support operational decision making.
- Building professionalism (business writing, project management, facilitation of meetings, presentations, networking with government stakeholders and multi-disciplinary teams). As a small jurisdiction, exposure to a broad range of stakeholders is amplified.
- Organisational knowledge of rural, peri-urban and remote fire management.
- Understanding of public administration and governance: Gain insight into how government departments and agencies work. Observe how frameworks, policies and projects are delivered by being part of the Planning Unit of the Operations Branch of Bushfires NT.
- Opportunity to attend prescribed burns and wildfires to obtain data.
- Mentorship. The intern will be provided with a manager who will provide mentorship within agency.
- Insight into different career paths through exposure of different business functions.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Nationally, fire agencies adopted the Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) in September 2022. Prior to 2022, the Northern Territory utilised the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index and grasslands model as a critical decision-support tool for preparedness actions around Fire Ban periods, issuing of permits to burn, predictive services, public information and warnings and to determine the pre-positioning of emergency response resources.
The NT now utilises two major fire behaviour models, the Grassy Woodland Model (Cheney et al. 1998) and the Spinifex Grasslands of Arid Australia Model (Burrows et al. 2018; Holmes et al. 2023). These models are applied across coarse vegetation mapping and fuel data derived from limited visual observations of fuel condition combined with remote sensed data.
These models were tested and applied to the NT based on dominant vegetation types and data provided through the system development and implementation stage. This involved applying fire behaviour modelling to historic data along with qualitative feedback on determining alignment with new Fire Behaviour Thresholds. Model inputs including vegetation data, fire history and fuel characteristics have been recognised to require improvement to reflect dynamic fuel states and to better align to observed fire behaviour and fuel type.
Currently, fuel data that is used as inputs to AFDRS models are static inputs or with a fixed recovery profile when fire temporarily reduces fuel loads. This is problematic as fuel loads are highly dynamic. Additionally, two highly flammable introduced grasses that are changing the frequency and intensity of bushfires and their impact to values in the NT are gamba grass (Andropogan gayanus), a concern for the Top End, and buffel grass (cenchrus ciliaris). Gamba grass is found in the urban to peri-urban landscape of the Greater Darwin region and buffel grass is found through Central Australia in remote and regional areas including Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. Gamba grass is accounted for in the AFDRS with a modified grassy woodland model applied to estimate fire behaviour. However, the AFDRS not hold a model for gamba or buffel grass. This means that there is a gap in understanding fire behaviour and forecasting fire danger for areas that contain these fuels.
Nationally, the AFAC Board, Implementation Group and Predictive Services Group have continued to work on improvements with AFDRS modelling and attributed Fire Behaviour Indices. These issues have also been recognised and raised through the National Bushfire Intelligence Capability (NBIC) project. While there are actions being taken to improve the AFDRS in the long-term, there are immediate and short-term improvements that could be implemented in the NT with a 6-month Natural Hazards Research Australia (NHRA) internship project.
RESEARCH TO BE CONDUCTED
- Analyse observed fire behaviour data compared with the forecast Fire Behaviour Index (FBI) to understand how well data inputs and modelling are aligning to the AFDRS. This can inform fuel state edits and assist with improved application of existing models to forecasting fire danger. This research could take samples from observed fires in the Top End and Central Australia to examine the efficacy of the Grassy Woodland Model and buffel grass model in predicting fire behaviour and fire danger.
- Develop an updated vegetation layer for the NT. This aspect of the project would involve improve alignment with vegetation in bordering jurisdictions (SA, WA, QLD) and incorporating updated fuel mapping data for gamba grass and buffel grass.
- Undertake a literature review and develop scope for a Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass) and Andropogan gayanus (gamba grass) fire behaviour model research proposal.
SKILLS WISH LIST
If you’re a postgraduate research student and meet some or all the below we want to hear from you. We strongly encourage women, indigenous and disadvantaged candidates to apply:
- GIS – spatial analysis and editing (essential)
- Fire behaviour academic
- Project management
- Communication skills
RESEARCH OUTCOMES
Provide a report to Bushfires NT providing:
- Summary of research findings into how effective AFDRS fire behaviour indices have been in forecasting observed fire danger. This report should put forward recommendations for adjustments to fire behaviour thresholds to better fit fire danger ratings if required.
- Written description of the process taken to update vegetation mapping for the NT incorporating updated fuel mapping for gamba grass and buffel grass. This section of the report should provide a description of source data and limitations within the dataset and recommendation’s for future improvement.
- Research proposal outlining a detailed scope for the development of a buffel grass and gamba grass fire behaviour model.
- Present project outcomes to Executive Management within the Northern Territory Fire and Emergency Services and at least two additional Bushfires NT stakeholder meetings.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
The intern will receive $3,000 per month of the internship, usually in the form of scholarship payments.
It is expected that the intern will primarily undertake this research project during regular business hours and maintain contact with their academic mentor throughout the internship either through face-to-face or phone meetings as appropriate.
The intern and their academic mentor will have the opportunity to negotiate the project’s scope, milestones and timeline during the project planning stage.
Please note, applications are reviewed regularly and this internship may be filled prior to the advertised closing date if a suitable applicant is identified. Early submissions are encouraged.
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