Safe and Productive Bushfire Fighting with Hand Tools

An examination of the main recommendations of a major biomedical study into the safety and productivity of firefighters fighting forest wildfires.

3 December 2008 | Updated 14 October 2011

This book, written for managers and operational firefighters, reports the main practical recommendations of the biomedical study of Project Aquarius. It links each recommendation to the scientific evidence on which it is based, and also provides a detailed photographic coverage of the study.

The biomedical study of Project Aquarius was a designed experiment, carried out over three summers in south-west and south-east Australia, to examine the safety and productivity of men suppressing free-running forest fires of intensities commonly faced by hand-tool crews.

This book makes the findings and recommendations easily understandable by a non-scientist.

The scientific findings were reported in 13 papers that were published in a Special Issue (Volume 7, Number 2, June 1997) of the International Journal of Wildland Fire, and were reprinted under the title: Stress, Strain, and Productivity in Men Suppressing Wildland Fires with Hand Tools.

The present book makes these findings, and the recommendations arising from them, easily understandable by a general audience.

Topics covered in the book are: