Are we ready for bushfire? Perceptions of residents, landowners and fire authorities on Lower Eyre Peninsula, South Australia

Weber, Delene; Moskwa, Emily; Robinson, Guy M.; Bardsley, Douglas K.; Arnold, J.; Davenport, Mae A.

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.10.006

Cited by 22 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…Social capital and traditions of solidarity and social networks drive peri-urbanization, which is in turn a product of the process [66,90,94]. Social capital is a resource for the creation, operation, and maintenance of infrastructures, transport and communication systems, water, food security, and access to employment and other forms of capital [59,124,134], as well as for the exchange of information and knowledge related to production [54,67,146], for facing disasters and vulnerabilities, for moving from resilience to adaptation, and for improving the management of socio-ecological systems in the peri-urban [102,138,154]. It also serves as a tool to negotiate or protest, sometimes violently [65,150,153].…”

Section: Social Institutional Capacity To Address Changementioning

confidence: 99%

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Sustainability in Peri-Urban Informal Settlements: A Review

Carrilho

Trindade

2022

Sustainability

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The study of peri-urbanization attracted attention in the final quarter of the 20th century, due to the pace it acquired worldwide and the implication that urbanization and overall settlement patterns have on social sustainability and development. Theoretical and conceptual achievements are remarkable. Multi-country collaboration has produced a growing body of research on sustainability and peri-urban settlements. There is a lack, however, of a review of the practices of peri-urban informal settlements, the predominant mode of urban expansion, mainly in developing and rapidly urbanizing regions of the world. The purpose is, then, to systematize, from recent literature, the knowledge of the context, challenges, and practices, as well as their impacts and potential courses of action, to ensure sustainability in human–natural complex of the territory beyond urban cores, suburbs, or slums. A systematic review approach was adopted, for articles published in reputable journals, with support of previous reviews, books, and reports. A pragmatist combination of content analysis and critical review identified core topics and highlighted contrasting views. An analytical framework is proposed. Four categories—drivers, challenges and practices, impact, and future trends—are proposed as an adequate approach to systematizing the literature. The review finds that the practices focus on service and resource provision, on regulations to approximate informal to formal institutions, and on an economy founded on the resource base and service provision. This review provides insights on future trends and research topics.

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Section: Social Institutional Capacity To Address Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Informal occupation of peri-urban territories may be accompanied by deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and soil erosion [93,123]; increased risk of fires [52,138,145]; floods and rise in sea level [43,83,86]; and higher exposure to pollution in the water-food-energy nexus and landfill economy [117,148].…”

Section: Environmental Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability in Peri-Urban Informal Settlements: A Review

Carrilho

Trindade

2022

Sustainability

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“…On the other hand, fires cause the destruction of human lives and property. For example, the Black Saturday Fires in 2009 killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2000 houses in Victoria, Australia, the Ash Wednesday Fires in 1983 resulted in 75 fatalities and the loss of 1900 houses in South Australia and Victoria, and the Black Tuesday Fires in 1967 cost 62 lives and destroyed 1300 houses in Tasmania [1][2][3]. In recent fires, the death toll from wildfires rose to 33 in the Black Summer fires between 2019 and 2020 in eastern Australia [4,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Vertical Atmospheric Structure on an Atypical Fire in a Mountain Valley

Ozaki

Harris

Love

et al. 2022

Fire

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Wildfires are not only a natural part of many ecosystems, but they can also have disastrous consequences for humans, including in Australia. Rugged terrain adds to the difficulty of predicting fire behavior and fire spread, as fires often propagate contrary to expectations. Even though fire models generally incorporate weather, fuels, and topography, which are important factors affecting fire behavior, they usually only consider the surface wind; however, the more elevated winds should also be accounted for, in addition to surface winds, when predicting fire spread in rugged terrain because valley winds are often dynamically altered by the interaction of a layered atmosphere and the topography. Here, fire spread in rugged terrain was examined in a case study of the Riveaux Road Fire, which was ignited by multiple lightning strikes in January 2019 in southern Tasmania, Australia and burnt approximately 637.19 km2. Firstly, the number of conducive wind structures, which are defined as the combination of wind and temperature layers likely to result in enhanced surface wind, were counted by examining the vertical wind structure of the atmosphere, and the potential for above-surface winds to affect fire propagation was identified. Then, the multiple fire propagations were simulated using a new fire simulator (Prototype 2) motivated by the draft specification of the forthcoming new fire danger rating system, the Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS). Simulations were performed with one experiment group utilizing wind fields that included upper-air interactions, and two control groups that utilized downscaled wind from a model that only incorporated surface winds, to identify the impact of upper air interactions. Consequently, a detailed analysis showed that more conducive structures were commonly observed in the rugged terrain than in the other topography. In addition, the simulation of the experiment group performed better in predicting fire spread than those of the control groups in rugged terrain. In contrast, the control groups based on the downscaled surface wind model performed well in less rugged terrain. These results suggest that not only surface winds but also the higher altitude winds above the surface are required to be considered, especially in rugged terrain.

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“…This phenomenon is of no exception for the driest continent in the world that is Australia, where it occurs regularly, and has contributed to the evolution of the continent over millions of years. Several mega bushfire events in Australia have been documented such as Gippsland fires and Black Sunday (1926), Black Friday (1939), Australian Bushfire Season (1974-1975, Waterfall bushfire (1980( ), Canberra bushfires (2003, and Black Saturday (2009) (Weber et al, 2019). However, the recent bushfire season (2019)(2020) in Australia, centered in the southeastern part of the country (New South Wales, NSW), has turned out to be the most catastrophic (in terms of burnt area and severity) in the continent's history since the European settlement and colloquially also known as the Black Summer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes of the Widespread 2019–2020 Australian Bushfire Season

et al. 2020

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The recent bushfires (2019-2020) in New South Wales (NSW) Australia were catastrophic by claiming human and animal lives, affecting ecosystems, destroying infrastructure, and more. Recent studies have investigated relationships between hydroclimatic signals and past bushfires, and very recently, a few commentary papers claimed drought and fuel moisture content as the probable causes for the widespread 2019-2020 bushfires. Therefore, in this study, a novel work of encompassing a wide range of factors attributing to the recent bushfires is presented. Empirical evidence-based statistical methods are used to identify the hydroclimatic variables and geomorphic characteristics contributing to the 2019-2020 bushfires. The results highlight that ongoing drought, surface soil moisture (SSM), wind speed (WS10), relative humidity (RH), heat waves (HW), dead and live fuel moisture, and certain land cover types create favorable conditions for fire ignition and aid in fire propagation in different regions of the NSW state. The findings suggest that accounting for the above-identified variables in bushfire prediction and monitoring system are crucial in avoiding such catastrophes in the future. The overarching application of this study is developing robust and more versatile fire protection planning and management. Plain Language Summary Since the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires were catastrophic in terms of burnt area and severity, a detailed analysis of the primary causes is crucial. In this paper, several probable causes are tested statistically to establish their relationship with the burnt area. The results indicate that the ongoing drought, surface soil moisture, wind speed, relative humidity, heat waves, dead and live fuel moisture, and land cover with certain vegetation (particularly native eucalyptus and grazing land) are the primary causes of the widespread bushfire. These results are extremely critical in updating the current bushfire planning and management.

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Are we ready for bushfire? Perceptions of residents, landowners and fire authorities on Lower Eyre Peninsula, South Australia

Cited by 22 publications

References 77 publications

Sustainability in Peri-Urban Informal Settlements: A Review

Sustainability in Peri-Urban Informal Settlements: A Review

Impact of Vertical Atmospheric Structure on an Atypical Fire in a Mountain Valley

Causes of the Widespread 2019–2020 Australian Bushfire Season

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