Fuel reduction burning (FRB) goes by many names including prescribed burning, planned burning, controlled burning, hazard reduction burning, candling, edge burning and sometimes even ecological burning. However, the objective is generally the same: to reduce available fuel safely. FRB is very different from high intensity slash or regeneration burning after logging operations. The upper limit at which a bushfire can be handled safely by either ground crews alone or ground crews supported by fire tankers, graders, bulldozers, is a heat intensity of about 2,000 kW/m. Severe bushfires, such as on Black Saturday, generated intensities in excess of 100,000 kW/m. Whereas fuel reduction burning is usually less than 500 kW/m. For comparison, a large household radiator emits about 1 kW.
