Last week Wildfire Today reported on the possible closing of Australia’s Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre due to a lack of funding. The federal government has reversed their stance and is prepared to provide $47 million for another eight years of financing beginning July 1, while expanding their role to include floods, earthquakes, cyclones and tsunamis. The Centre has been actively involved in researching bushfire-fighting technology, extreme fire behavior, firefighter safety, and prescribed burning strategies. Shutting it down would be similar to the United States government closing the Fire Sciences Laboratories in Missoula and Riverside.
In order for the Centre to remain open, the states and territories will have to make similar funding commitments. If it continues to exist, it will be renamed the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre.
