What bushfire risk households need to know- Panel session

Dr. Raphaele Blanchi leads the Fire and Landscape Dynamics Group at CSIRO Environment. With a background in geography, she focuses on understanding and reducing the risks posed by bushfires to communities and infrastructure. She has contributed to post-bushfire surveys, the creation of a national life/house loss database, and supporting resident rebuilding efforts after bushfires. She also led the development of bushfire-resilient building guidelines for Queensland and Victoria, focusing on best practices to make buildings and landscapes more adapted to bushfires. The guidelines are based on extensive research into building and surrounding landscaping vulnerabilities during bushfires. They use a best practice framework, consolidating existing advice while going beyond regulations to provide innovative and affordable solutions.

Dr. Blanchi has been with CSIRO since 2004, contributing significantly to the understanding and mitigation of bushfire impacts on communities and infrastructure. With 20 years of experience, her research has informed policies, regulatory reforms, and community education to enhance resilience against bushfires. She maintains strong international connections, collaborating with researchers and stakeholders in Europe, North and South America, and Asia.

This year, she is leading a project to improve data collection after bushfires including a citizen science app, part of the National Bushfire Information Capabilities (NBIC), which allows interested members of the public to record bushfire impacts on their property. Raphaele is also leading the NHRA project on bushfire adaptive homes, which aims to empower residents and practitioners involved in building houses, enabling them to make informed decisions when designing, building, retrofitting, or improving homes to be bushfire adaptive.