Bushfire activity was extremely high in New South Wales
leading up to Christmas 2001. As early as October, fires
were burning
on the North Coast where seven states of emergency were
declared. On the third of December a dry lightning storm
swept through
the Blue Mountains, igniting other major fires, that resulted
in the declaration of a further five states of emergency.
Fires were still burning in the Blue Mountains twenty-one days later,
when increased fire activity close to Sydney, began to
threaten residential property.
This CD deals with the twenty-three day period from the
twenty-fourth of December, 2001, that is now known as the
Black Christmas
Bushfire Emergency. Twenty-six States of Emergency were
declared across
forty-eight Local Government Areas. Forty-eight thousand
fire fighters from across Australia and overseas were involved
at
a cost of more than seventy million dollars.
In this Seminar Kelvin Wise, the Manager of Geographic
Information Systems at the New South Wales Rural Fire Service,
outlines
the activities of the Joint Services Mapping Unit during
the Black
Christmas bushfires.
The Workshop uses data collected for the following three
fires to illustrate how GIS can provide decision support
to the fire
fighting effort.
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The West Pennant Hills Fire |
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The Hylands Fire |
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The Glenmore Park Fire |
