Geoinformation for Disaster and Risk Management - ISPRS

Case Study: Kinglake Complex Fire, Australia
In February, 2009, multiple days of temperatures
above 41ºC (106ºF) combined with low humidity, 13
years of drought, and northerly 100 kilometres per
hour winds to create an alignment of forces that
produced extreme bushfire conditions that far
exceeded the maximum fire danger ever recorded.
Melbourne, Australia recorded its hottest day ever, a
blistering 46.6ºC (116ºF).
Police in the state of Victoria were directed to search
every property within the Kinglake Complex fire
perimeter, 222,500 hectares with more than 8,000
properties and structures.. The organization had
never carried out such a large-scale emergency
damage assessment.
The traditional method for documenting property
searches was manual. Victoria Police looked at their
current assessment tools, paper maps, forms, and
binders and realized they had a problem. There was
no time for errors such as forms being incomplete or
inaccurate, requiring properties to be searched
again. The need for accurate, speedy information
prompted the use of geospatial technologies and
real-time mobile GIS to determine the extent of the
devastation and to document the location of human
remains. For 43 days, emergency responders helped
carry out search operations. More than 40 GIS
personnel worked 3,600 total hours (306 work
days).
Each night staff members from the Rescue
Coordination Centre drove the 150-kilometre roundtrip
to the incident command post in Kinglake. They
retrieved forms and memory cards for cameras, then
manually typed newly captured data from the paper
96
forms into the database. The updated database was
used to generate maps depicting areas searched and
areas needing to be searched. Search managers
monitored field operations on a continuous basis
with dynamic data constantly coming into command
centres and in turn updated in all mobile devices in
the field.
Staff found that the process when collecting
information during their massive search was
simplified and made faster. Using mobile GIS,
thousands of properties were searched and records
were created, managed and shared easily.
The officers commented favourably on how much
time the application saved them. These were some of
the same team leaders who had previously used
paper forms and had limited or no prior GIS
experience.
Using Mobile GIS to perform the search in less than
three weeks meant a faster, more efficient response
time and the ability for thousands of homeowners to
return to their properties quickly and rebuild their
lives.
Figure 2: Information was easily integrated into Victoria Police's Web mapping site using a Web
map server feed.