HIGHFIRE RISK PROJECT

FIRE CHANNELLING EVENTS

DateFireLocationLongitude (d.dd°)Latitude (d.dd°)Elevation (m)TypeCode
16 Dec 1977Lawson FireLawson, NSW150.43-33.71720V771216A


This fire started north of the Great Western Highway and west of the town of Lawson in the Blue Mountains. With a wind direction of 255° grid the fire started travelling to the east. However, the mapping shows clearly that the fire also moved to the north along a gully line.
Note that there was a second fire coming off the Kings Tableland, south of the highway.
The main feature to note is the marked right-angle bend in the rear of the left flank of the fire, in the gully. This is a diagnostic feature of fire channelling. Note also that there was intense spotting downwind of this.

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In this digitised rendering, the beige colour on the digital terrain model is output from a model of sites prone to fire channelling under the prevailling winds. It is seen that, allowing from issues with hand-drawn fire maps from the 70s, the lateral spread on the left flank coincides with a deep valley.
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The map material is from a report of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. The model data is from Geosceince Australia and the Shuttle Radar Terrain Mission.