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Wildfire Hazard and the Role of Tree-Ring Research

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Tree Rings and Natural Hazards

Part of the book series: Advances in Global Change Research ((AGLO,volume 41))

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Abstract

In February 2009, wildfires raged across 3,900 km2 in southern Victoria near Melbourne in southeastern Australia, killing over 200 people and destroying more than 1,800 homes, the worst wildfire tragedy in the country’s history and worst ever natural disaster (Callinan 2009). Wildfires in Australia are in fact common. The vegetation of the region is well-adapted to frequent fire, suggesting a long history of fires that stretches back for millennia, well before human presence, but the severity with which these series of wildfires struck caught the country (and scientists alike) by surprise. Although several arsonists were arrested and charged, some speculate that climate change contributed to the severity and spatial extent of these wildfires, although this is still a highly debatable topic (Sullivan 2009).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Henri D. Grissino-Mayer

Authors
  1. Henri D. Grissino-Mayer
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Correspondence to Henri D. Grissino-Mayer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. Geologie, Labor für Dendrogeomorphologie, Universität Bern, Baltzerstr. 1-3, Bern, 3012, Switzerland

    Markus Stoffel

  2. Inst. Geologie, Labor für Dendrogeomorphologie, Universität Bern, Baltzerstr. 1-3, Bern, 3012, Switzerland

    Michelle Bollschweiler

  3. Dept. Geography, Texas State University, University Drive 601, San Marcos, 78666-4616, Texas, USA

    David R. Butler

  4. Dept. Geography, University of Western Ontario, London, N6A 5C2, Ontario, Canada

    Brian H. Luckman

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Grissino-Mayer, H.D. (2010). Wildfire Hazard and the Role of Tree-Ring Research. In: Stoffel, M., Bollschweiler, M., Butler, D., Luckman, B. (eds) Tree Rings and Natural Hazards. Advances in Global Change Research, vol 41. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8736-2_31

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