A 3 dimensional ray tracing approach to modelling bushfire radiant heat flux for houses using LiDar derived vegetation voxel data and quadratic polygonal fire fronts

This paper describes the development of vulnerability assessment methods using a new approach to estimate radiant heat flux (RHF) exposure and consequent house response at a landscape scale. The model uses a three dimensional representation of the landscape, house location, vegetation structure based on LiDar data and the landscape scale gridded fire arrival conditions as inputs. The report presents the exploratory implementation of the approach on the Pine Ridge Road region affected by the 7th of February 2009 bushfire in Victoria. The 3D RHF ray tracing model provides a more robust prediction of house loss through bushfire, provided the approach direction can be determined.