BUSHFIRE BEHAVIOUR MODELLING USING FARSITE WITH GIS INTEGRATION FOR THE MITCHAM HILLS, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Bushfire behaviour modelling using FARSITE with GIS integration for the Mitcham Hills, South Australia. Bushfires are now becoming of serious concern as they can have devastating effects on the natural and human ecosystems. An important element of bushfires is fire behaviour. Fire behaviour describes the mode in which a fire reacts to the influences of fuel, weather, topography and fire fighting. In order to understand and predict fire growth and the behaviour of fires, decision makers use fire models to simulate fire behaviour. Fire behaviour modelling can assist forest managers and environmental decision makers in the understanding of how a fire will behave with the influences of environmental factors such as fuels, weather and topography. This study models (spatially and temporally) the behaviour of a hypothetical fire for the Mitcham Hills in South Australia using FARSITE (Fire Area Simulator). FARSITE, a two-dimensional deterministic model, takes into account the factors that influence fire behaviour (fuels, weather and topography) and simulates the spread and behaviours of fires based on the parameters inputted. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques were utilised for data preparation and the mapping of parameters that are needed and welcomed by FARSITE. The results are a simulation of spread of fire, fireline intensity, flame length and time of arrival for the area of interest. The simulation confirmed that it can be used for predicting how a fire will spread and how long it will take which can be very beneficial for fire suppression and control and risk assessment.