FuelGauge

FuelGauge is for pre-fire planning and to assist in prioritising fuel reduction burns in your locality. The app can be used to calculate fuel hazard score for a wide variety of structural vegetation types from grasslands, heathland, woodlands, and forests.

There are three methods to choose from: Threat score, Walk thru-bush, or Fun field measurement. These are ranked from low to high physical activity, and from low accuracy to high accuracy, with the most accurate being the ‘Fun field’ method. This entails throwing a Frisbie at least 10 times and recording the distance thrown, height landed and percentage of non-green fuel. FuelGauge then calculates your score and reports the Fuel Hazard score to your fire agency.

The role of FuelGauge is to support communities in improved planning and preparation for wildfires and is complementary to ongoing liaison with your local fire agency. FuelGauge is a first pass assessment tool that can be used to encourage accurate and timely reporting. It can also be used by landowners to monitor fuel hazards on their property, for example monitoring grass curing rates over the season using the Fun Field method.

Results from FuelGauge are to be used for indicative purposes only and communities are encouraged to develop two-way learning opportunities with the local volunteers and professional fire services. Currently Tasmania is the only participating State as at the launch date of July 30 2016, and results can be viewed on LISTmap services.

There is no personal identification required, as only location information and hazard scores are recorded.

FuelGauge algorithms were developed by Dr Ernst Kemmerer, Cradle Coast NRM www.cradlecoast.com

Software design and implementation developed by 41st Degree Software www.41stdegree.com.au

LISTmap services and deployment by Aaron Cashman maps.thelist.tas.gov.au