NSW Rural Fire Service Library
New books, reports, and articles in the library
January 2025
Subjects
The fire environment of five Australian cities (Journal article)
Natural Hazards, November 2024
Destructive bushfires which destroy buildings and inflict loss of human life regularly afflict the cities of the Australian east coast. A review of the incidence of destructive bushfires revealed their relative absence from Greater Brisbane compared to the other east coast capital cities of Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Hobart, despite all cities occurring in the forested eastern region of the continent. This study examines three factors that influence the incidence of destructive bushfires and attempts to assess the vulnerability of these Australian cities.
Please contact the library to request a copy of this article
Professionalisation of Australian bushfire planning and design practitioners (Journal article)
Australian Journal of Emergency Management, January 2025
This paper describes the professional development pathways for bushfire planning and design practitioners. It summarises the key competencies required and then shows that the growth of professionalism in the sector has been based on ongoing development of education and training opportunities, in parallel with establishing an independent accreditation agency. Australian states and territories have endorsed bushfire practitioners as valued personnel who improve the management of risk in urban interface areas between vegetation and human settlements.
Use this AIDR link to read the article online.
Bushfires and power networks – identifying areas of highest risk in Queensland (NHRA Hazard Note)
Natural Hazards Research Australia, December 2024
This project used fire risk modelling methods developed previously by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC’s Project IGNIS in 2019 to quantify the potential impacts of bushfires to and from Powerlink infrastructure. Outcomes from this research support Powerlink to identify higher-risk locations across the transmission network, as well as inform internal decision-making processes about bushfire risk mitigation strategies, policies and operational imperatives.
Use this NHRA link to read the Hazard Note.
When the Smoke Clears : The LA Fires (Journal article)
NFPA Journal, published online 18 January 2025
As Los Angeles County tries to pick up the pieces after one of the most destructive wildfire events in U.S. history, local leaders are confronted with urgent challenges and immense decisions—chief among them, rebuilding areas that were destroyed. NFPA’s wildfire expert weighs in with her perspective on the historic wildfires, the tortured response, and what needs to happen next as the region undertakes the largest reconstruction project in its history.
Use this NFPA link to read the article online. Use this link to listen to their podcast on the LA Wildfires
Wildfire smoke’s health risks can linger in homes that escape burning − as Colorado’s Marshall Fire survivors discovered (News article)
The Conversation, 24 Dec 2024
When wildfires like the Marshall Fire reach the wildland-urban interface, they are burning both vegetation and human-made materials. Vehicles and buildings burn, along with all of the things inside them – electronics, paint, plastics, furniture. Research shows that when human-made materials like these burn, the chemicals released are different from what is emitted when just vegetation burns. The smoke and ash can blow under doors and around windows in nearby homes, bringing in chemicals that stick to walls and other indoor surfaces and continue off-gassing for weeks to months, particularly in warmer temperatures. In a new study released three years after the Marshall Fire, the authors looked at the health effects people experienced when they returned to still-standing homes.
Use The Conversation link to read the article online.
Use this ACS Publications link to read about the study in detail in the journal article “Physical Health Symptoms and Perceptions of Air Quality among Residents of Smoke-Damaged Homes from a Wildland Urban Interface Fire”
Complexities in post-wildfire governance: lessons from Colorado’s 2020 wildfires (Journal article)
Fire Ecology, 15 January 2025
The increasing size and severity of western U.S. wildfires in recent years has generated greater attention towards post-wildfire response and recovery. Post-fire governance requires coordinating response and recovery capacities across jurisdictions, landscapes, and time scales. The presence of wildfire on federal public lands necessitates federal agency involvement in both suppression and recovery efforts, and program coordination with lower levels of government and non-governmental organisations.
Use the Fire Ecology link to read the article online
California's Devastating Winter Wildfires
(Briefing note)
Risk Frontiers, February 2025
Winter Wildfires have ravaged Southern California. In California, wildfires can occur year-round, however the intensity, severity and destruction of these fires is unprecedented. So far, the death toll is 28, with more than 16,000 residences destroyed and over 230 km2 burnt, with estimates of insured losses between $20-30 billion USD and total economic losses of $250 billion USD.
Use this Risk Frontiers to read the article online
Firefighting
Hazardous materials : awareness and operations (Book)
Rob Schnepp, 2023
A fire fighter's ability to recognise an incident involving hazardous materials or weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is critical. They must possess the knowledge required to identify the presence of hazardous materials and WMD, and have an understanding of what their role is within the response plan. Hazardous Materials: Awareness and Operations, Fourth Edition provides US fire fighters and first responders with these essential skills and enables them to keep themselves and others safe while mitigating potentially deadly incidents. Revised and updated to meet new NFPA 470 standards, the fourth edition of Hazardous Materials: Awareness and Operations delivers high quality content developed, and peer reviewed, by experts in the field.
Contact the library to borrow this book.
New device uses electrically assisted wind to fight fires (Science News article)
Ohio State University, published online 4 February 2025
Researchers have developed a new portable tool that could improve how firefighters douse fires, making the process more efficient and far less risky. Built as an alternative to traditional firefighting countermeasures like toxic chemical foams or hydrants whose use can strain water resources, this device works to suppress flames using the power of conductive aerosols, small particles that can direct electricity.
Use this ScienceDaily link to read the article online.
Can “Fire Safe” Cigarettes (FSCs) Start Wildfires? (Journal article)
Fire Technology, February 2025
Use this Springer Nature link to read the article online
Fire Management
New strategy needed for extreme wildfires : impact of climate change must be incorporated
By Rick McRae (Canberra), Wildfire, January 2025
The global collective of fire management wisdom is clearly focussed on a fuel-oriented path forward in the face of climate change. For Blow up Fire Events, there is no explicit role for fuel load (beyond the need for a prior fire), indicating that fuel management – central to the framework – is unlikely to be an effective preventative action. We do, however, need to explore how fuel management can be targeted to prevent future dynamic fire escalation. Extreme wildfires do not occur in flashy fuels such as most grasslands: they are mainly a problem in forests and woodlands and they have, in recent years, occurred in new ecosystems
Use this IAWF link to read the article online.
Sub-hourly forecasting of fire potential using machine learning on time series of surface weather variables (Journal article)
International Journal of Wildland Fire, published online 30 January 2025
Rapidly developing pre-fire weather conditions contributing to sudden fire outbreaks can have devastating consequences. Accurate short-term forecasting is important for timely evacuations and effective fire suppression measures. This study aims to introduce a novel machine learning-based approach for forecasting fire potential and to test its performance in the Sunshine Coast region of Queensland, Australia, over a period of 15 years from 2002 to 2017. This method will provide objective, quantifiable information, enhancing the precision and effectiveness of fire warning systems.
Use this CSIRO link to read the article online.
The Era of Master Thinkers (Journal article)
TD : Talent Development, January 2025
Please contact the library to request a copy of this article
Is Your Training in Need of a Reality Check? (Journal article)
TD : Talent Development, February 2025
The article discusses the importance of cognitive fidelity in training simulations, using the example of the US military's Millennium Challenge exercise. It highlights the need for simulations to focus on cognitive elements rather than physical fidelity to enhance learning outcomes. By emphasising cognitive fidelity, training programs can help learners develop essential skills such as managing uncertainty, adaptive thinking, and decision-making. The text also explores tools like cognitive task analysis and the critical decision method to uncover and address the cognitive demands of specific tasks, ultimately improving training effectiveness.
Please contact the library to request a copy of this article
Onfire 2023 Contest: what did we learn about real time fire detection from cameras? (Journal article)
Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, Dec 2024
Several methods for fire detection from camera streams have been proposed in recent years. While traditional techniques often emphasise recall, they frequently neglect critical factors such as minimising false positives, ensuring timely alarm notifications and optimizing performance for devices with limited computational resources. The ONFIRE 2023 contest evaluates various approaches for detecting fire using smart cameras and establishes new evaluation metrics to measure precision, recall, notification promptness, processing speed and resource utilisation.
Contact the library to request a copy of this article.
Mapping bushfire risk based on scale division and factor analysis: A case study from Victoria, Australia
(Journal article)
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, published online 15 Feb 2025
This study presents an enhanced model for assessing bushfire risks in Victoria, Australia, by integrating scale division, factor analysis, and geographic information system (GIS) technology. The proposed model focuses on three key aspects: i) historical bushfire disasters, ii) the natural environment, and iii) socioeconomic factors. This model also utilises the data based on the deformable grid in GIS for quantitative analysis. Factor analysis, which employs Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method, was used to extract principal components and determine factor weights by simplifying complex data for better usability and understanding. The efficacy of the model was validated using data from the 2019–2020 Black Summer bushfire, which showed an accuracy of over 50 % accuracy in identifying high-risk areas.
Contact the library to request a copy of the article
A machine learning predictive model for bushfire ignition and severity: The Study of Australian black summer bushfires (Journal article)
Decision Analytics Journal, March 2025
To reduce the damages experienced by bushfires, predicting Australian bushfire ignition allows for an early warning system to give first responders and disaster managers prompt and accurate information. Traditional methods of bushfire ignition prediction suffer from incorporating large-dimensional data and take extensive computational time. Applying machine learning (ML) models enhances accuracy and reduces the computational time required to predict bushfire ignition. This study proposes a predictive model that can take meteorological and topographical data and determine the probability of Australian bushfire ignition and severity using historical fire detection gathered from the Black Summer Bushfire Disaster.
Use this ScienceDirect link to read the article online.
The Australian Emergency Manager: A Journey towards Professionalisation (PhD thesis)
Russell Dippy, Charles Sturt University 2024
Preventing, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from emergency events requires a series of complex and interconnected tasks and actions to be undertaken. In Australia, these tasks are led by a person sometimes known as an emergency manager; however, the term emergency manager is amorphous and undefined. Currently, emergency management is not recognised as a profession in Australia. The role of the emergency manager is not specifically defined under Australian emergency management arrangements. Thus, the individual Australian emergency manager is not recognised as a member of a formal profession. A major contributing factor to the lack of recognition of the emergency manager as a professional within a recognised profession is the inconsistent selection, education, and training of emergency managers across Australian states and territories. This study examined Australian emergency events occurring over a period of 20 years (1997–2017) that were subject to judicial or semi-judicial inquiries.
Use this CSU link to read the thesis online.
The related journal article, Professionalism: defining the Emergency Manager, Response Manager and Recovery Manager, ash been published in the January issue of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management – use this AIDR link to read the article online.
The State Disaster Mitigation Plan guides and unifies disaster risk reduction efforts in New South Wales (Journal article)
Australian Journal of Emergency Management, January 2025
New South Wales is advancing its natural hazard adaptation and mitigation maturity, guided by its nation-leading, multi-hazard strategy and action plan. The State Disaster Mitigation Plan1 was released in February 2024 and is helping drive disaster risk reduction efforts by providing the foundation for better planning, prioritisation and delivery of mitigation and adaptation initiatives.
Use this AIDR link to read the article online. The State Disaster Mitigation Plan is available online using this NSW Government link.
Understanding experiences of resident defence during bushfires in New South Wales, Australia (Journal article)
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, published online 15 Feb 2025
In Australia, many households continue to elect to defend their homes and communities against bushfire threats. Household defence plays a significant role in mitigating property losses but also entails notable difficulties and safety risks for residents. Despite this, very little research has closely examined what household defence experiences actually look like across different household, community, landscape and fire contexts, in order to identify ways bushfire responses can be made safer and more effective and to help identify the limits of household defence under different conditions. This research examines resident defence experiences drawn from thematic analysis of 402 post-fire household interviews conducted following a number of significant fire events that occurred in New South Wales, Australia between 2017 and 2020. A key finding is that many households are severely underprepared to defend, with lack of awareness about what constitutes adequate preparedness for defence, particularly for fire conditions beyond light ember attack.
Use this ScienceDirect link to read the article online.
Framing the flames: Addressing public disengagement through fear framings in Australian bushfire preparedness campaign videos
Geoforum, March 2025
Building on previous quantitative analysis of Australian bushfire preparedness video campaigns, we present an in-depth qualitative examination of four videos that headlined fire agencies’ public communication campaigns between 2015 and 2022. We identify a dominant survivalist frame which assumes that public fear of bushfire is a precondition to rational preparation for bushfire risk informed by agency expertise. Preparedness is presented as a survivalist response to imminent threats to life and private property.
Use this ScienceDirect link to read the article online.
Grampians National Park is still burning – here’s what we can expect will survive and recover (News article)
The Conversation, 10 February 2025
Fire broke out in the Grampians National Park (Gariwerd) in December and raged for weeks. Then lightning strikes ignited fresh blazes late last month, which merged to form a mega-fire that’s not out yet. This 168,000-hectare reserve, about 200km west of Melbourne, is a significant ecological and cultural landscape. Its ancient sandstone mountains and valleys maintain eucalypt woodlands and heathlands that support a rich diversity of plants and animals, making it a key conservation asset in Victoria. Since 2008, our team has been monitoring mammal species annually in the Grampians. This long-term effort has allowed us to learn how species respond to wildfires, droughts and floods.
Use The Conversation link to read the article online.
Community Efforts to Care for Animals During Climate Disasters: Experiences and Recommendations from an Australian Bushfire Affected Region (Journal article)
International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, January 2025
This article reports on informal community efforts to care for non-human animals during and after the 2019/2020 “Black Summer” bushfires in Australia, when over three billion animals were killed, injured, or displaced. The role of rescuing and caring for domesticated and wild animals fell almost entirely to community groups and individual carers, who stepped up to fill the gap at significant cost to themselves – financially, emotionally and sometimes even at a risk to their safety. The research draws on more than 60 interviews with wildlife carers and groups in the Shoalhaven region south of Wollongong in New South Wales.
Use this Nature link to read the article online.
The Conversation published a news article relating to the research which can be read online here.
Russ Harris, 2021
Whether it's the loss of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a pandemic, or a natural disaster-nothing really prepares us for those moments when life hits hard and turns our world upside down. In this candid self-help guide, best-selling author Russ Harris offers practical skills grounded in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help readers recover from grief, loss, and crisis; transcend pain and suffering; and build rich and meaningful lives-even in the face of adversity.
Contact the library to borrow this book.
How does wildfire smoke affect the brain : breathing dirty air may accelerate aging (Magazine article)
Wildfire, January 2025
As the threat of wildfires grows, firefighters and affected communities grapple not only with the immediate threat of flames but also with the acute and chronic brain health effects of wildfire smoke. While the physical dangers of smoke inhalation are well documented, the toll it takes on brain health remains a lesser-known consequence. After sustained exposures to wildfire smoke, people complain of memory problems and mental fatigue. Routine tasks can demand heightened concentration and effort. Thought processes (known as cognitive function) appear to slow, suggesting impairment in information processing and decision-making abilities. Time and spatial perception can seem distorted, together with diminished attentional capacity.
Use this IAWF link to read the article online.
Impact of extreme bushfire seasons on rates of occupational injury and disease compensation claims in first responders (Journal article)
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vol 97, 2024
This Australian study aimed to use workers’ compensation data to explore the impact of the extreme bushfires on injury/disease claim rates amongst first responders compared with other occupations and off-seasons. Extreme bushfire events were associated with increased mental claims rates in all first responders, with the highest in firefighters. Strategies to better prevent and manage injury/disease risk are urgently required, particularly for mental health conditions.
Please contact the library to request a copy of this article
Lifespan : why we age--and why we don't have to (Book)
David Sinclair, 2021
From an acclaimed Harvard professor and one of Time's most influential people, this paradigm-shifting book shows how almost everything we think we know about aging is wrong, offers a front-row seat to the amazing global effort to slow, stop, and reverse aging, and calls readers to consider a future where aging can be treated. For decades, experts have believed that we are at the mercy of our genes, and that natural damage to our genes--the kind that inevitably happens as we get older--makes us become sick and grow old. But what if everything you think you know about aging is wrong? What if aging is a disease--and that disease is treatable? In Lifespan, one of the world's foremost experts on aging and genetics reveals a groundbreaking new theory that will forever change the way we think about why we age and what we can do about it.
Contact the library to borrow this book.
Brain-Body Connection: Why is it Important for Resilience and Cognition? (Military Article)
The Cove, February 2025
Ever wondered why you might feel anxious when you are sick? Or if mindfulness can really help improve your resilience, or why kangaroos don’t build rocket ships? The answer lies in the relationship between brain and body. A growing body of fascinating scientific literature is shedding light on the relationship between the mind and body in a Defence context. Military strategists have emphasised that the strength needed to win the next war will be less about kinetic energy than about cognitive power and performance
Use The Cove link to read the article online.
The body keeps the score : brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma (Book)
Bessel A. van der Kolk, 2015
What causes people to continually relive what they most want to forget, and what treatments could help restore them to a life with purpose and joy? Here, Dr Bessel van der Kolk offers a new paradigm for effectively treating traumatic stress. Neither talking nor drug therapies have proven entirely satisfactory. With stories of his own work and those of specialists around the globe, The Body Keeps the Score sheds new light on the routes away from trauma - which lie in the regulation and syncing of body and mind, using sport, drama, yoga, mindfulness, meditation and other routes to equilibrium
Contact the library to borrow this book.
The Upgrade : how the female brain gets stronger and better in midlife and beyond (Book)
Louann Brizendine, 2022
After analysing the latest research, Brizendine has found that in midlife the inclination to cater to the needs of others relaxes, allowing women to become more centred while retaining their gifts of perception. The change in ratio of estrogen to testosterone makes women more direct and able to speak out. There's also a drop in anxiety that allows the female brain to flip its attentional style from multitasking to focusing on one thing at a time. The upgraded female brain is centred, direct, validated, focused, fearless, expansive, and free. In this sweeping look at the second half of life, Brizendine dives deep into the microscopic workings of your mitochondria one moment and zooms out to the bigger picture-family, relationships, identity-the next. With clear prescriptive advice, she also offers specific ways women can fend off dementia, increase longevity and well-being, and find their best selves at this stage of life.
Contact the library to borrow this book.
Mental health risk for wildland firefighters: a review and future directions
International Journal of Wildland Fire, published online 23 Jan 2025
A comprehensive review of existing literature on mental health risk in the wildland fire service identifies concrete recommendations for advancing theory and practices related to occupational health for wildland firefighters.
Use this CSIRO link to read the article online.
More than tokenism : effective hot and cold debriefing (Journal article)
Crisis Response Journal, January 2025
Healthcare professionals are an at-risk group when it comes to potentially traumatic events. Repeated trauma exposure without effective debriefing can significantly affect both physical and mental health write Guy Collins, Gemma Breitschadel and Pat Deeny
Please contact the library to request a copy of this article
Nature-Based Community Recovery Post-Natural Disaster: Black Summer Bushfires (Journal article)
Disaster medicine and public health preparedness, January 2025
Natural disasters can cause widespread death and extensive physical devastation, but also harmfully impact individual and community health following a disaster event. Nature-based recovery approach can positively influence the mental health of people and community's post-natural disasters. In response to the Australian bushfire season of 2019-2020, Zoos Victoria, in partnership with the Arthur Rylah Institute, worked with local communities in East Gippsland to support people's recovery through experiencing, supporting, and witnessing nature's recovery.
Contact the library to request a copy of this article.
Not everything counts... but everything matters (Book)
Ivan Cleary, 2024
It's described as the greatest achievement the modern game has seen, and Ivan Cleary is the man behind it - the astonishing, historic benchmark of multiple back-to-back premiership wins by the Penrith Panthers in 2021, 2022 and 2023. In his own words, Cleary tells all about what he's learned and how he leads, informed by his decades as a player and coach - a playmaker, team builder, mentor and leader who understands that not everything counts, but everything matters. Drawing on his years of experience - professional and personal - Cleary shares insights into his success, including the value of persistence, the power of culture, community and connection, facing your fears and tackling them head-on, the architecture of achievement - and the importance of risking it all. He also delves deep into his work with one of the most diverse teams in the league, the challenges he faces as leader, and how to inspire a team of individuals to hall-of-fame team greatness.
Contact the library to borrow this book.
The 17 indisputable laws of teamwork : embrace them and empower your team (Book)
John Maxwell, 2001
Individual all-stars can only take you so far. Ultimately, success--whether in business, family, church, athletic teams, or any other organization--is entirely dependent on teamwork. But how does one build that team
Leadership expert and bestselling author John C. Maxwell knows that building and maintaining a successful team is no simple task. Even people who have taken their teams to the highest level in their field have difficulty re-creating what accounted for their successes. In his practical, down-to-earth style, Maxwell shares the vital principles of team building that are necessary for success in any type of organisation.
Contact the library to borrow this book.
Elevate your team : push beyond your leadership limits to unlock success in yourself and others (Book)
Robert Glazer, 2023
Every leader knows this delicate balancing act: to simultaneously generate better performance from your team, retain top talent, and build your organization's leaders of tomorrow, without inducing burnout. In the sequel to his bestseller Elevate, Robert Glazer applies his groundbreaking capacity-building framework to teams and organizations alike. The result is the playbook for a results-oriented, learning-driven culture that elevates its people to meet the company's ever-changing growth needs.
Glazer, a serial entrepreneur, award-winning CEO, and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author, shares a framework of proven, actionable strategies that will help you up your game as a leader, help your team reach their full potential, and most importantly build the new generation of leaders from within your organisation.
Contact the library to borrow this book.
The Manageable Intangible (Journal article)
TD : Talent Development, January 2025
Please contact the library to request a copy of this article
Tribes (Book)
Seth Godwin, 2024
Since it was first published in 2008, Seth Godin's visionary book has helped tens of thousands of leaders turn a scattering of followers into a loyal tribe. If you need to rally fellow employees, customers, investors, believers, hobbyists or readers around an idea, this book will demystify the process. It's human nature to seek out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, economic, political or even musical. Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost and time. Social media gives anyone who wants to make a difference the tools to do so. With his signature wit and storytelling flair, Godin presents the three steps to building a tribe: the desire to change things, the ability to connect a tribe, and the willingness to lead.
Contact the library to borrow this book.
Meteorology and Climate Change
Five times faster : rethinking the science, economics, and diplomacy of climate change (Book)
Simon Sharpe, 2025
We need to act five times faster to avoid dangerous climate change. This is an inside story from Simon Sharpe, who has spent ten years at the forefront of climate change policy and diplomacy. In our fight to avoid dangerous climate change, science is pulling its punches, diplomacy is picking the wrong battles, and economics has been fighting for the other side. This provocative and engaging book sets out how we should rethink our strategies and reorganise our efforts in the fields of science, economics, and diplomacy, so that we can act fast enough to stay safe. This edition has been brought up-to-date throughout, and includes a new chapter on how international cooperation on climate change can be reconciled with economic and geopolitical competition. It also includes a response to the question the book has most often provoked: 'How can I help?'
Contact the library to borrow this book.
Much of Australia enjoys the same Mediterranean climate as LA. When it comes to bushfires, that doesn’t bode well (News article)
The Conversation, 13 January 2025
A “perfect storm” of several factors resulted in the catastrophic fires now burning in Southern California: long-term climate change combined with extreme weather conditions, all playing out in one of the most densely populated parts of the United States. The tragedy offers valuable lessons for other global cities in a similar climate zone to Los Angeles – including the Australian centres of Adelaide and Perth. The fires are also instructive for centres such as Sydney and Melbourne, where the climate is warming and drying. That’s why, in Australia, it’s important to understand how climate drivers played out before and during the LA wildfire emergency. Some are naturally occurring and others are the result of global warming. This article loks at them in detail.
Use The Conversation link to read the article online.
Increased wildfire activity may be a feature of past periods of abrupt climate change (Science News article)
Oregon State University, published online 2 January 2025
A new study investigating ancient methane trapped in Antarctic ice suggests that global increases in wildfire activity likely occurred during periods of abrupt climate change throughout the last Ice Age. The study, just published in the journal Nature, reveals increased wildfire activity as a potential feature of these periods of abrupt climate change, which also saw significant shifts in tropical rainfall patterns and temperature fluctuations around the world.
Use this ScienceDaily link to read the article online. Contact the library to request a copy of the Nature journal article Abrupt changes in biomass burning during the last glacial period
The science of climate migration (Book)
Frank Spellman, 2023
This book addresses the nexus between science and migration, and examines how the two are inextricably intertwined. It primarily addresses the science of global climate change, and additionally examines how this change is more than a region being too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet, or too windy, rather it is also about heightened military tensions, political instability, and myriad other factors. Further, the book discusses the increasing need for the implementation and utilisation of non-polluting renewables for use in energy production as a means to stave off environmental crises.
Contact the library to borrow this book.
When Risks Become Reality: Extreme Weather In 2024 (Report)
World Weather Attribution, December 2024
The WWA partnered with Climate Central to produce a report that reviews some of the most significant events and highlights findings from their attribution studies. It also includes new analysis looking at the number of dangerous heat days added by climate change in 2024 and global resolutions for 2025 to work toward a safer, more sustainable world. This report discusses ‘fire weather’ which is the focus of their wildfire attribution studies. In many regions of the world, fire weather conditions are becoming more severe due to climate change.
Use the WWA link to read the summary and download the report.
How innovation works (Book)
By Matt Ridley, 2021
Matt Ridley chronicles the history of innovation, and how we need to change our thinking on the subject. Innovation is the main event of the modern age, the reason we experience both dramatic improvements in our living standards and unsettling changes in our society. It is innovation that will shape the twenty-first century. Yet innovation remains a mysterious process, poorly understood by policy makers and businessmen alike. Matt Ridley argues that we need to see innovation as an incremental, bottom-up, fortuitous process that happens as a direct result of the human habit of exchange, rather than an orderly, top-down process developing according to a plan. Innovation is crucially different from invention, because it is the turning of inventions into things of practical and affordable use to people. It speeds up in some sectors and slows down in others. It is always a collective, collaborative phenomenon, involving trial and error, not a matter of lonely genius. It still cannot be modelled properly by economists, but it can easily be discouraged by politicians.
Contact the library to borrow this book.
Innovation : knowledge and ingenuity (Book)
Ian J. McNiven and Lynette Russell, 2024
First Nations Australians are some of the oldest innovators in the world. Original developments in social and religious activities, trading strategies, technology and land-management are underpinned by philosophies that strengthen sustainability of Country and continue to be utilised today. Innovation: Knowledge and Ingenuity reveals novel and creative practices such as: body shaping; cremation; sea hunting with the help of suckerfish; building artificial reefs for oyster farms; repurposing glass from Europeans into spearheads; economic responses to colonisation; and a Voice to Parliament. In the first book to detail Indigenous innovations in Australia, Ian J McNiven and Lynette Russell showcase this legacy of First Nations peoples and how they offer resourceful ways of dealing with contemporary challenges that can benefit us all
Contact the library to borrow this book.
The art of explanation : how to communicate with clarity and confidence (Book)
Ros Atkins, 2023
Explanation - identifying and communicating what we want to say - is an art. And the BBC presenter and journalist Ros Atkins, creator of the viral 'Ros Atkins on...' explainer videos, is something of a master of the form. In this book, Ros shares the secrets he has learned from years of working in high-pressure newsrooms, identifying the ten elements of a good explanation and the seven steps you need to take to express yourself with clarity and impact.Whether at work, school, university or home, we all benefit from being able to articulate ourselves clearly.
Contact the library to borrow this book.
Murriyang : song of time (Book)
Stan Grant, 2024
Murriyang: Song of Time, in part Grant's response to the Voice referendum, eschews politics for love. In this gorgeous, grace-filled book, he zooms out to reflect on the biggest questions, ranging across the history, literature, theology, music and art that has shaped him, setting aside anger for kindness, reaching past the secular to the sacred and transcendent. Inspired by spiritual thinkers and sages from around the world, Grant finds connections with Plato, Saint Augustine, Isaac Newton, jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, Saint Teresa of Avila, Simone Weil, among others. Murriyang is a Wiradjuri prayer in one long uninterrupted breath, challenging Western notions of linear, historical time in favour of Indigenous concepts of deep, circular time - the Dreaming. Murriyang is also very personal, each meditation interleaved with a memory of Grant's father - a Wiradjuri cultural leader - and asking how any of us can say goodbye to those we love. It is a book for our current moment, and something for the ages
Contact the library to borrow this book.
Aviation and Drones
Drones for emergency services: a whole-of-government approach to crisis prevention, response and recovery (Journal article)
Australian Journal of Emergency Management, January 2025
Having access to exact and current information in a changing situation can greatly assist decision-making and reduce time and the waste of valuable resources. Over the past decade, drone technology has evolved rapidly and has transformed many industries through accessible and localised aerial vision and data collection. This information improves situational awareness and logistical support. In critical scenarios, from search and rescue to disaster response and all manner of public safety and community good settings, drones and their pilots provide immediate data and additional perspectives by collecting huge amounts of data that can be used to save lives. However, while drones within visual line of sight are increasingly common there has been a delayed adoption of larger, long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) across the emergency management sector.
Use this AIDR link to read the article online.
Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems in Bushfire Management: A NATIONAL ROADMAP (Report)
ANU Bush Fire Centre of Excellence, January 2025
The use of emerging aviation technologies such as Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) for natural disaster risk reduction purposes in Australia has increased substantially in recent years, with fire and emergency services trialling and integrating these technologies into their bushfire response practices. RPAS have significant transformative potential to improve our resilience against bushfires and other emergencies. Realising this potential will require national coordination between operational agencies as well as research institutions and the industry. Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (DITRDCA) commissioned the ANU Bush Fire Centre of Excellence together with Firetech Connect and CWIFT to prepare this report to provide advice on a pathway to improve national coordination of Australia’s drone research and operational capability to support bushfire risk reduction practices.
Use this BRCOE link to read the report online. The Conversation published a news article relating to the roadmap which can be read online here.
A large-scale FireLine global positioning method based on a single unmanned aerial vehicle (Journal article)
International Journal of Remote Sensing, February 2025
Wildfires exert a destructive influence on forest ecosystems. Precise positioning of the fire margin (large-scale fireline) of extensive wildfires facilitates the allocation of firefighting resources. However, the direct positioning of the entire fire field by a single unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remains a formidable challenge due to the extensive horizontal expanse of large-scale firelines, and asynchronous monitoring of the entire fire field results in suboptimal accuracy as a consequence of the dynamic propagation of the fireline. To address these limitations, this paper presents a global positioning method for large-scale firelines employing a single UAV. By asynchronously locating part fireline through the UAV's airborne fireline real-time positioning system during UAV flight, the acquired asynchronous firelines are synchronized to the same time utilizing a fire spread prediction model, ultimately achieving global positioning of the firelines. The efficacy of the proposed method was validated using FARSITE-simulated wildfire data and two field-prefabricated wildfire experiment datasets. The outcomes demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms direct asynchronous positioning of the entire fireline by a single UAV in terms of accuracy.
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Trends and Gaps in Prescribed Burning Research (Journal article)
Environmental Management, January 2025
Prescribed burning is a key tool in land management globally used to reduce wildfire risks and achieve ecological, cultural and resource management objectives across both natural and human systems. Despite its widespread application, research on prescribed burning is marked by significant gaps. Subsequently, we posed the following research questions: (1) What are the key research topics that define international, peer-reviewed literature on prescribed burning? (2) What are the temporal and spatial trends of these topics? (3) What are the relationships between the national income of a given country and the trends in research topics? And, (4) What are the most salient knowledge gaps in peer-reviewed prescribed burning research, and how can they be addressed?
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