THE HUMAN RESPONSE TO THE SYDNEY CHRISTMAS BUSHFIRES

摘要

In the summer of 2001-02 the state of New South Wales in Australia was ravaged by bushfires. Some 450 fires raged across the state. The efforts of 1,695 fire fighting equipment units, 109 aircraft and more than 29,000 personnel deployed from 50 organisations were employed to control the blaze. Over 750,000 hectares of bushland burnt, 7,000 head of livestock were killed and 109 houses destroyed by fire. There was no loss of life. The effects of this on the physical and social environment of the population was devastating. The Fire investigation & Research Unit of the New South Wales fire Brigades (NSWFB) has researched the effects of fires on the human environment since 1999. It was this Unit's initiative to address the fires and develop a report to document the post-incident analyses. As this event was beyond their resources a collaboration between the NSWFB and the Australasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC) and the Rural fire service (RFS) was developed which enabled the development of a project team. The study was divided into two sections, one the built environment and the other the human environment.