The aim of the Grassland Curing and Fire Danger Rating project (GCFDR) was to produce an automated system that determines accurate grassland curing in Victoria to support fire danger calculations by 2014.

The GCFDR project commenced in late 2010, in response to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.  The 2009 Commission Interim Report identified the need for AFAC (and affiliated agencies) and the Bureau of Meteorology to collaborate with researchers to explore options for the fire danger indices and fire danger ratings. Country Fire Authority has taken the lead in implementing this recommendation.

The major objectives are:

• Expanding the existing network of grassland curing observers and providing them with training products including: an online training course, a photo reference field card and field guide;

• Developing an improved technique for estimating the degree of curing by utilising satellite observations adjusted by observations from the ground – named the Victorian Improved Satellite Curing Algorithm (VISCA);

• Developing an automated online system for operational collating and mapping of grassland curing data;

A joint research project conducted by CFA and CSIRO to empirically test the relationship between grassland curing and fire behaviour: namely at what critical curing thresholds are required for sustained fire propagation, the associated rate of fire spread and the expected fire behaviour at different curing levels throughout the fire season.

Meeting these objectives will provide Victoria with a technologically advanced operational system that will exceed the outcomes requested through the Royal Commission Interim Report.