Fire risk in Tasmania’s World Heritage area needs more research ahead of 'longer, drier summers'

Further research is needed to understand the increasing bushfire risk in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA), according to a new report.

The Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACECRC) was commissioned to do further work on climate modelling, after last summer's unprecedented bushfires.

Lightning strikes in January started blazes across large areas of Tasmania and burnt 19,000 hectares of the World Heritage area.

ACECRC adjunct Professor Tony Press, who led the research, said climate change would likely make future fires more intense and more frequent, telling the ABC “the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area saw bushfires this year that represent the kind of future that might happen under climate change - in other words, longer, drier summers.”

Some of the report recommendations include the development of a fire management plan for the TWWHA with clear, well-defined objectives, and establishing an ongoing program of scientific monitoring.

It also called on authorities to track the development of new technology to detect lightning strikes.

Adjunct Professor Tony Press added "satellite technology and other technologies are more able to help understand where lightning strikes may have occurred and then you can use aeroplanes or technology to see if there's smoke emanating from those areas.

"In some places (in the TWWHA) like the peaty soils, you might actually have a fire that's smouldering undetected for a very long time.

"That will still be a problem in the future, working out where these cryptic or secret fires might be after a series of lightning strikes."

The Tasmanian Government welcomed the report and is closely considering the findings.

Tasmanian Emergency Services Minister Rene Hidding stated “we can get better at it, no question.

"Tony Press is proposing to do more research on it. We're favourably disposed to that but it's a budget matter."

Image courtesy of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service.

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