Western Sydney University: Bushfire Prevention Literature Review

This report presents a comprehensive literature review on the prevention of bushfires, focusing on the causes, effects, and mitigation strategies. The introduction highlights the environmental damage caused by bushfires, particularly in Australia, and emphasizes the role of extreme weather and human activities in triggering these events. The discussion section analyzes various research papers, including Odia, Asalor and Odia (2017), Hesseln (2018), Parker (2016), Haworth, Whittaker and Bruce (2016), and Gibbs et al. (2018), to explore different approaches to bushfire prevention. The review covers topics such as the role of biomass, the importance of understanding fire trends, the effectiveness of community involvement, and the use of geographic information systems and educational programs. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for a multifaceted approach to bushfire prevention, including community involvement, technological advancements, and educational initiatives to mitigate the impact of bushfires.

Running Head: LITERATURE REVIEW
LITERATURE REVIEW ON PREVENTION OF BUSH FIRE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The necessity of preventing bush fires is extremely important to prevent environmental
damage and environmental degradation. Bushfires are one of the common environmental
incidents that take place in Australia and have disastrous effects. The bushfires generally occur
due to conditions of extreme weather mostly characterised through hot and dry conditions. The
higher temperatures act as trigger elements to cause bush fire incidents. The bush fires can also
initiate from human activities of carelessness or accidental fires but are also found to occur due
to natural accidents such as lighting. The bush fires generally span for a short period of time
but can also continue for several days depending on the intensity of the fire. The intensity of
the fires depend on the high winds and the intensity of the winds. This paper will look into the
literatures revolving around bushfires and prevention strategies and will analyse the research
through understanding of the factors that trigger bushfire and evaluate them by looking into
literatures that suggest prevention measures.
Discussion:
The causes and the effects of bushfires when examined gives an understanding about
the nature of bushfires and the obvious reasons. As Odia, Asalor and Odia (2017) puts it in
their work about the effects of bush fire and their impacts, it is understood that the availability
of the fuel material and inflammable organic mass are one of the major reasons that promote
bushfires and these remarks were obtained from the research made by Odia et al. (2017). They
have alongside identified that the amount of biomass varies from 26grams to 400grams in the
savanna forests which is sufficient to trigger events like the bushfires. The research conducted
by the trio also identify that the dry Harmattan winds are also responsible for the causing
bushfire events and they have concluded by stating that the control of bushfires can be done by
controlling the amount of inflammable biomass available in the land. However, Hesseln (2018)
has revealed that the prevention of the wild fires or bushfires depend on analysing the trends

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of bushfires over time and space and therefore relies on the effective use of knowledge about
the cause of fires either be it from natural occurrences or through human interaction. The author
argues that such effective knowledge can allow for the development of effective tools to
manage and mitigate fire prevention by developing strategies and implementing them in
mitigating the wildfires. He author has reviewed the fire prevention in wild lands and have
evaluated the processes that include any sort of action pertaining towards reduction of
unwanted wild land fires. The research made by the author also reveals that the though there
had been effective change in the technology to mitigate forest fires yet the change in the social
attitude and behaviours of the people will lead to more effective management of wild fires. The
author also states that the change in the attitude about the perception of the people regarding
fire prevention has changed as it was in the 1960s which has helped a lot in the prevention of
wild fires or bushfires.
On the contrary Parker (2016) argues that the prevention of bush fires require adequate
attention of the local communities and that clearing of the bushes around settlements and
houses is the most effective measure of reducing bushfires. He argues that the clearing of the
buses around houses would reduce the risk of the bush fire spreading and this measure would
effectively reduce the impact of bush fire by being contained in a small portion of the region
before being effective managed through efforts of fire containment. He also suggests that the
clearing of the bushes around settlements and houses can occur through the community funded
cleaning and clearing programmes and the collection and valorisation of this bio mass can bring
about an effective result in mitigating bushfires.
Haworth, Whittaker and Bruce, (2016) however have argued that the collection, sharing
and creating of map based information about the bushfires over space and time can be effective
tool in managing bushfires throughout the country. The necessity of timely relevant and varied
information is the new game changer for effective disaster management and that the same

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process can also allow for mitigation of bushfires if used in an effective manner. The authors
have promoted the concept of VGI or Volunteered geographic information created with the
help of local population and individuals and implementing them through web based mapping
and networking platforms can be an effective tool in mitigating the bushfires. Unlike the other
studies reviewed the authors have stated that preparedness and effective response management
system can bring down the effect of the disasters to a level that would reduce the impact to a
great extent. Though they have accepted that sharing of information is not correct or accurate
at times but the use of this technology can create a big difference in mitigation of bushfires and
other similar disasters.
Gibbs et al., (2018) have also supported Haworth, Whittaker and Bruce in way by
emphasizing the role played by educating children in disaster mitigation. They have laid
emphasis in identifying the importance of educative programs for children and the way they
can create resilience among children in managing disasters, mostly bushfires. The study
conducted by them in a pilot scale have identified that through an effective programme similar
to the one conducted by the local fire brigade in Victoria, Australia have revealed their capacity
in handling situation of bushfires and in implementing the coping strategies while similar
situations are at hand. This proves that it is equally necessary to include children and
individuals from various age groups in preparing and educating them for situations thereby
leading to a more effective management system of bush fires.

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References
1. Odia, O.O., Asalor, J.O. and Odia, A., 2017. MITIGATING BUSH FIRE THROUGH
THE MANAGEMENT OF FOREST PRODUCTIVITY. SAU Science-Tech
Journal, 2(1), pp.77-84.
2. Hesseln, H., 2018. Wildland Fire Prevention: a Review. Current Forestry
Reports, 4(4), pp.178-190.
3. Langer, E.L. and McGee, T.K., 2017. Wildfire risk awareness and prevention by
predominantly Māori rural residents, Karikari Peninsula, Aotearoa New
Zealand. International journal of wildland fire, 26(9), pp.820-828.
4. Parker, A., 2016. Selective clearing of bush close to houses is the top bushfire
mitigation strategy. Australian Planner, 53(2), pp.152-155.
5. Haworth, B., Whittaker, J. and Bruce, E., 2016. Assessing the application and value of
participatory mapping for community bushfire preparation. Applied Geography, 76,
pp.115-127.
6. Kornakova, M., March, A. and Gleeson, B., 2015. Strategic action and planning change:
Regulatory changes and bushfire resilience.
7. Ambrey, C.L., Fleming, C.M. and Manning, M., 2017. The social cost of the Black
Saturday bushfires. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 52(4), pp.298-312.
8. Walker, C., 2016. Tasmanian bushfires a climate wake up call. Chain Reaction, (126),
p.48.
9. Collins, K.M., 2018. Fire prevention treatments to mitigate wildfire risk.
10. Gibbs, L., Ireton, G., Block, K. and Taunt, E., 2018. Children as Bushfire Educators-
'Just be Calm, and Stuff Like That'. Journal of International Social Studies, 8(1), pp.86-
112.

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