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How Far Do Bushfires Penetrate Urban Areas

Effective targeting of bushfire prevention, management and suppression activities requires the identification of bushfire prone areas. Clearly the bush is bushfire prone, but how far beyond the margins of the bush does a high level of danger extend?

Drawing on data from the 1967 Hobart fires (Black Tuesday), and 1983 Otway fires (Ash Wednesday), the distance from all destroyed dwellings to the urban-bush interface was measured. A distance distribution was obtained for each fire event. A combined distribution was obtained from the 1967 Hobart and Otways data and tested against the 1994 Como-Jannali data. Although the test data were limited in quantity, the results showed some consistency between all fires. Some aspects of the distribution are discussed with respect to impact areas and buffer zones.

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