Margie Maccoll
A 3D model system able to show how fires and floods will move through an environment is set to be adopted by Noosa Council for a two-year trial under a contract with the developer of the simulation tool, Simtable.
Estimated to cost $106,000, the trial is expected to be funded jointly via the Cat D bushfire recovery grant and Cat C Community Bushfire grant, then its continued use reassessed at the end of the two-year trial with future funding to be considered through the budget process.
Following the bushfires of 2019, Noosa Council established the Firetech Connect program via the Peregian Digital Hub with an objective to help Noosa Shire Council, other LGAs and emergency services agencies adopt technologies that build bushfire resilience in regional communities.
A key element of resilience building is preparing regional communities for potential future bushfire events and involves educating people about the behaviour of fires and the importance of evacuation. The Firetech Connect program researched and identified a number of technology companies around the world that were developing solutions in the community education space, including Simtable.
Council invited Ku-Ring-Gai Council sustainability program leader Dr Jenny Scott to present at its 2020 Firetech Conference where she demonstrated how Ku-Ring-Gai Council was using the Simtable technology to engage and educate their community about fire behaviour. The hands- on nature of the Simtable had proved to be a highly effective tool for presenting scenarios and building awareness amongst community members.
Simtable’s solution includes predictive modelling software for how fire, flood and other hazards evolve within a given environmental context, as well as a novel presentation approach using augmented reality to display those predictive disaster simulations on an interactive surface.
Using a three-metre table filled with walnut husk and video projection, the tool can provide a visual picture of the local environment and the progress of a natural hazard such as fire or flood.
Cr Amelia Lorentson described Simtable as exciting technology.
“The only way to prepare for risk is to understand the risk,“ she said.
“This is one of the tools which will help us survive the elements much better and be able to advise the community,“ Cr Joe Jurisevic said of the Simtable at Council’s general meeting on Monday.
In addition to its community engagement benefits, by simulating how hazards behave in a particular set of circumstances, the Simtable can be used to inform disaster management actions such as evacuation orders as well as display other Council data sources from the Living Lab, including realtime weather information, drone footage and user generated photography.
Councillors voted unanimously on Monday to adopt Simtable with a final decision to be made at Council’s Ordinary Meeting on Thursday.
