HIGHFIRE RISK PROJECT

VLS EVENTS

Date	Location	Longitude (d.dd°)	Latitude (d.dd°)	Elevation (m)	Code
9 Nov 2002	Willow Vale Fire, Mittagong, NSW	150.46	-34.43	600	021109A

This fire started adjacent to the freeway and was funnelled by winds up the valley towards Aylmerton. When it reached the lee of the hill near Braemar, a VLS event dominated the fire behaviour, and the fire spotted for over 5km downwind. The main feature to note is the marked right-angle bend in the rear of the right flank of the fire, in the lee of the hill upwind of Braemar. This is a diagnostic feature of VLS. Note also that there was intense spotting downwind of this.

This material is derived from multispectral linescans flown by Air Target Services Pty Ltd for the NSW Rural Fire Service. The base map is provided by Geoscience Australia, from their 1:250,000 topographic map series. The contours are derived from Shuttle Radar Terrain Mission data.