Abstract

Validating wildfire risk assessment in New Zealand
Track: Wildland Fire Management
Authors: Wayne Tyson

Despite its temperate climate, New Zealand faces the threat of fire throughout the summer months. With large areas of low population and difficult access, some fires have burnt out large areas of valuable commercial forest and conservation land. The use of wildfire threat modelling over the past 6 years has assisted New Zealand fire authorities to identify key risk areas to plan and protect at risk regions. Within Canterbury in the South Island, 10,000 rural fires have been recorded over the past 10 years. It is the aim of this presentation to look at those historic fire records and compare their actual occurrence to the modelled Risk factors that are used within the New Zealand fire threat analysis.