A comment on the use of visually assessed fuel hazard ratings and scores for Australian fire management and research

Miguel G. Cruz

doi:10.1071/WF23164

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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A comment on the use of visually assessed fuel hazard ratings and scores for Australian fire management and research

Miguel G. Cruz

^A ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A CSIRO, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: miguel.cruz@csiro.au

International Journal of Wildland Fire 33, WF23164 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF23164

Submitted: 6 October 2023 Accepted: 11 June 2024 Published: 2 July 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Background

Assessment of fuel hazard has become the dominant method of describing Australian forest fuel complexes, despite a lack of evidence supporting the veracity of its underpinning assumptions.

Aims

To analyse and discuss the merits of fuel hazard ratings and scores in representing measurable fuel characteristics, such as fuel load and fire behaviour potential.

Methods

Published findings were reviewed, and available data analysed to investigate the validity of the Australian fuel hazard assessment concepts.

Key results

Multiple published studies showed the Australian fuel hazard assessment methods to be subjective and non-replicable. All available evidence shows no relationship between fuel hazard ratings and fuel quantity. No relationship between the ratings and fire behaviour potential was found.

Conclusions

The principles underpinning the use of fuel hazard ratings for fuel assessment were shown to be unfounded. The ratings cannot be converted into physical fuel characteristics or fire behaviour potential, and its application in Australian fire management is unwarranted.

Keywords: Bushfire fuels, Bushfire simulation, Eucalyptus forest, fire behaviour potential, forest fuels, fuel assessment, fuel structure, overall fuel hazard rating (OFHR), visual fuel assessment.

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