Twiggy’s goal to extinguish dangerous bushfires in an hour

Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest will unveil a disaster resilience blueprint today with the aim of giving Australia the ability to stop dangerous bushfires in their tracks within in hour, by 2025.

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BILLIONAIRE Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s charity has launched its most daring goal yet — for Australia to achieve the capability of extinguishing all dangerous bushfires in an hour by 2025.

The mining magnate’s Minderoo Foundation will work with government, industry and the research sector to investigate new ways to bolster the nation’s firefighting ability as part of its new fire and flood resilience initiative.

Minderoo has joined forces with more than 50 partners, including big ASX-listed companies, and will unveil a disaster resilience blueprint in Canberra today.

NSW Rural Fire Service crews protect properties as the Wrights Creek fire approaches Mangrove Mountain north of Sydney, December 5, 2019. Picture: AAP/Dan Himbrechts

The former boss of CSIRO’s Data61, Adrian Turner, has been recruited to lead Minderoo’s bushfire mission and likened its task to former US President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to put humans on the moon in a decade.

“What we‘re doing is applying the latest technology that’s used in other fields and applying it to firefighting with emergency services,” he said.

“If we‘re successful we’ll be able to stop fires in our tracks — our objective is within an hour.”

Mr Turner said work was already under way including one project with the NSW Government using satellite images from last summer’s fires.

“We funded a competition, our teams were given real satellite imagery from the bushfires and their job was to come up with new artificial intelligence techniques to be able to remotely monitor fuel load and figure out moisture content in landscapes to predict ignition points and the spread of fires,” he said.

Adrian Turner fought ferocious fires on his brother’s property in the Kangaroo Valley last summer. Picture: David Swift

Other projects Minderoo will invest ways to respond faster to fires, including using drones and autonomous vehicles to put out fires before they become a threat to people and property.

For Mr Turner, the mission is personal. He fought ferocious fires on his brother’s property in the Kangaroo Valley last summer and saw the devastation first-hand.

“It was just brutal, it was a hellfire – two fronts emerged,” Mr Turner said.

“It created its own pyrocumulus cloud. The landscape was just lunar and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but it’s given me the resolve, a personal commitment to make sure this problem gets solved.”

Minderoo will invest ways to respond quicker to fires, including using drones and autonomous vehicles to put them fires before they become a threat. Picture: Brad Fleet

Mr Turner said working with Mr Forrest was inspiring. “He‘s an incredible human being,” he said. ”He’s generous, he’s smart, he’s high energy and he really cares a lot about Australia and solving this problem.”

Bushfire consultant Roger Fenwick said Minderoo’s goal of extinguishing fires in an hour was ambitious but welcomed any funding into the sector.

“Every year there’s fire,” he said.

“In southeastern Australia every 13th year is an extreme year.

“In Tasmania and Western Australia every 11th year is an extreme year.”