Danielle Armour
Some of the newest innovations to defend against disasters have been showcased this week at AFAC16 Fire and Emergency Management Conference.
A shark detection drone, a firetruck that can withstand falling trees and a fire resistant vehicle that can move cars out of the way and shoot water the length of a football field are just some of the new pieces of technology that will be launched to tackle the disasters that come with an Australian summer.
“In the last five years, we have seen catastrophic disasters in our region including the Brisbane floods, bushfires across the country and the Christchurch earthquakes — each event has reinforced the need for emergency managers to think differently about how they respond, and their role in the recovery of the local community,” said AFAC CEO Stuart Ellis.
Drones are already being used in agriculture and postal delivery, and now the Westpac Little Ripper Drone can detect sharks, as well as locate people is need of rescue at sea and on land. The Vaper 55 helicopter drone detects movement using infra-red technology and is then able to send the information to controllers up to five nautical miles away.
Another of the new innovations set to be used this summer in the TAF20 (Turbine Aided Firefighting), a crawler vehicle that has the strength to move large objects such as cars, founded with a remote operated fire extinguisher that can blast water the length of a football field.
Dr Richard Thornton, CEO of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre believes that this is just one step towards making our summers safer for everyone. He said that experts would be on hand to talk to landowners and hazard managers about the latest research.
“There is no silver bullet for natural hazards safety, and we must continue to ask the difficult and complex questions to identify what we do not know,” Thornton said.
AFAC16 is Australasia’s largest emergency management conference, bringing together the latest in bushfire and natural hazard research and emergency rescue technology. The event is being held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from 30 August – 1 September.
