New book on the prevention of bushfires

A new book that draws on MSSI research aims to connect the international stories on bushfires to provide a unified strategic perspective on the prevention of fire ignition.

MSSI's Associate Professor Janet Stanley and Professor Alan March from the University of Melbourne, along with Professor James Ogloff (Swinburne University of Technology) and Dr Jason Thompson (University of Melbourne), have co-authored a new book titled Feeling the heat: International perspectives on the prevention of wildfire ignition. The book is a culmination of more than a decade of research into bushfires and arson, taking an interdisciplinary approach to comprehensively understand the topic.

The timely release of the book coincides with the commencement of the The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, investigating the extreme bushfire season of 2019-20 which resulted in loss of life, property and wildlife and unprecedented environmental destruction.

The book is part of a large research program on the prevention of bushfires and argues that if we are to reverse the increasing occurrence and severity of bushfires, all prevention approaches must be utilised, broadening from heavy reliance on environmental modification.

Associate Professor Janet Stanley is part of a team of researchers at the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute (MSSI) that have made a submission to the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements.