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Issue 52 | May 2009
Dr Andrew Sullivan demonstrates
the research capabilities of the Pyrotron
for the Lilli Pilli Scouts and ABC's
New Inventors Film Crew
Sustainable Ecosystems (CSE) scientists fired up the CSIRO Pyrotron for a bushfire research and fire safety demonstration at Yarralumla on Friday.
ABC television's New Inventors film crew and a group of Lilli Pilli Sea Scouts from Sydney, watched in awe as the fuel bed in the 25 metre-long fire-proof wind tunnel went up in flames.
Team Leader of Bushfire Dynamics and Applications Group, Andrew Sullivan, explained the Pyrotron's capacity to test combustion and the spread of bushfires in leaves, twigs and other bushfire fuel under controlled conditions and future climate change scenarios.
Andrew also gave an overview of CSIRO research into fuel dynamics, fuel availability, and fire behaviour, impacts and management. This research is carried out under the Climate Adaptation Flagship.
The demonstration, featuring Andrew and his CSE colleagues, will be screened on ABC's New Inventors program on Wednesday 3 June at 8.00pm.
The segment will be a promotion for the show's disaster prevention special on 10 June, which will also feature CSE researcher Felix Lipkin and the CSIRO 'sight sketcher' invention. The sight sketcher gathers 3D information that can be used in a modelling program to assess the vulnerability of houses to bushfires. The show will also host a web forum on disaster prevention after the screening of the special.
The Lilli Pilli Sea Scouts also visited the Green Machine Science Education Centre on the day where they undertook a series of exciting scientific experiments.
ABC's New Inventor's film crew capture CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystem scientist Dr Andrew Sullivan gathering fuel for the Pyrotron
