NZ Scion 20 years of fire research

Crown Research Institute Scion has celebrated the 20th anniversary of its fire research program at the 4th Fire Research Workshop in Rotorua on 14-15 June. Source: Timberbiz
Two decades of data collection from experimental burns and wildfires have gone into building tools that enable fire managers to make better decisions in firefighting operations.
These tools are designed to indicate how fast and how severely, a fire is likely to burn in different vegetation types.
Senior fire researcher, Grant Pearce says that rural firefighters no longer have to rely solely on experience. For every wildfire that breaks out in New Zealand there is a fire manager reaching for field manuals or calculators produced by Scion.
“We have come a long way in 20 years. Forest and rural fire agencies now have access to a range of fire behaviour models specifically for New Zealand vegetation types,” he said.
“These tools started out as paper-based look-up tables and field manuals. Over time, we evolved these into software applications, which are now being designed to run on smartphones.”
Scion established the fire research group 20 years ago when forest and rural stakeholders recognised the need for improved knowledge of New Zealand fire conditions.