Bushfires - Summer Favourites

We explore the phenomenon of Australian bushfires and what strategies we can employ to reduce forest flammability.

It’s summer down-under and all around the country people are on high alert for signs of smoke. So, we thought it was time to revisit one of our favourite episodes, The Future of Bushfires. 

In this episode, David Blayney speaks with Dr Philip Zylstra an adjunct associate professor at Curtin University, whose research focuses on the drivers of fire behaviour, flammability and modelling bushfire risk. 

Dr Zylstra gives context to prescribed burning of Australian landscapes, raises questions on the effectiveness of current fire prevention strategies and discusses how our current methods differ vastly from traditional Aboriginal fire practice. 

• What is a prescribed burn? [02:19]
• What happens to the forest after a fire? [10:36]
• What we should be doing to prevent bushfires [16:00]
• The single most important thing in fire prevention [20:30]
• Fire burning strategies employed by First Nation peoples [21:10]

Find out more

• Fire modelling in an uncertain world
• Indigenous fire management
• Controlled burns destroy ecosystems and may not reduce fire risk
• Philip Zylstra research profile
• Philip Zylstra citations

Got any questions, or suggestions for future topics?

Email [email protected].

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Transcript

https://thefutureof.simplecast.com/episodes/bushfires-summer-favourites/transcript

Curtin University supports academic freedom of speech. The views expressed in The Future Of podcast may not reflect those of the university.

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