Battling bushfires by computer
The CSIRO Division of Forestry Bushfire Research Group have developed a National Bushfire Model that predicts, on a portable computer, the spread, shape and behaviour of bushfires in a variety of landscapes. It also displays fire patterns together with vegetation types, roads, water and resources (such as settlements) under threat. The model gives firefighters reliable, precise information on a bushfire's path, its flame height, intensity and rate of spread and the behaviour of flanking fires, based on digitised maps and real-time weather reports.