15 December 1999

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is responsible for the management of fire prevention and suppression on public lands in Victoria. The last updated bushfire statistic of 14 December 1999 shows 1 going and 26 controlled fires. The locations of these fires are displayed in the statewide fire situation map below.

A priority fire weather warning for Victoria forecasts extreme fire danger on Wednesday 15th December in Mallee and Wimmera.

Fig.1. Statewide Fire Situation Map of Victoria
(Source: NRE)

A fire weather warning for the Alice Springs Region/Northern Territory Region was issued by the Darwin Regional Forecasting Centre of the Bureau of Meteorology for the 15 December 1999:
…
“Fire Danger: Very high over the Barkly and eastern Alice Springs regions, high over the western Alice Springs region.
… .

Fresh, gusty S/SE winds combined with high temperatures are likely to result in an extreme fire danger the afternoon of 15 December 1999 in Western Australia.

There was also issued a fire weather warning from the New South Wales Regional Office for 15th December 1999: “Hot, dry and windy conditions are expected to cause extreme fire danger in the Lower Western on Wednesday.

Thursday, 16 December 1999, will be a day of high fire danger for Northeast Pastoral in South Australia.

Isolated showers and thunderstorms will develop across Victoria today particularly about the ranges. Storms have already occurred near Albury. Winds will tend northeast to northerly and freshen as the low pressure system deepens south of S.A. The day will be warm to hot. Patchy rain is likely to develop in the west tonight as the trough approaches. Rain areas and isolated thunderstorms will extend throughout on Thursday but should ease to scattered showers in the west later. Fresh gusty northerly winds will shift cooler west to southwesterly as the trough moves across Victoria. Fire weather estimates for tomorrow will be difficult as will the timing of the change. Temperatures particularly in the east could be higher than previously forecast depending on this timing.

For the up-to-date fire weather information of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology refer to http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/.

Please have also a look on a list of links for information on Australian Fire Management Agencies:

Australasian Fire Authorities Council

http://www.ausfire.com/
The home page of the Australasian Fire Authorities Council coordinates the diverse range of activities of the different australian agencies concerned about fire

Firebreak

http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~barling/firebreak/firebreak.html
The firebreak newsletter provides a very extensive homepage with information about fire fighting in Australia, downloadable java scripts for calculating fire weather and various links to related sites

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Victoria
http://www.nre.vic.gov.au/fires/index.htm

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Victoria offers a very comprehensive web site with information on fire management. In their web site current reports are provided with statistics on the fire season. Extensive background information is included along with several links to related web sites.

Satellite Remote Sensing Services Department of Land Administration (DOLA)
http://www.rss.dola.wa.gov.au/apps/firewatch.html
The Satellite Remote Sensing Services (SRSS) of the Department of Land Administration provides near real time hot spot detection and burned scar mapping for western Australia. In the Firewatch project the SRSS detects hotspots throughout Western Australia using the thermal channel of the NOAA AVHRR sensor on a daily basis.

For more informations on Australia go to the IFFN country files.

References:
Luke, R.H., and A.G. McArthur, 1977. Bushfires in Australia. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 359 p.

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24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin