field sampling can form the basis for the production of very reliable maps 
showing fire intensity patterns. This method requires access to an aerial 
photographic facility which is generally provided by contractors. An 
alternative approach which is appropriate for small fires (up to 5000 ha) 
is to use small format aerial camera equipment available within the man- 
agement authority. Most Australian forest services and several of the 
national parks organisations have in recent years equipped with 70 mm or 
35 mm cameras suitable for vertical photography and have adequate expertise 
to obtain high quality photographs. 
The following two examples serve to demonstrate the capabilities of 
the two approaches - 
(i) In December 1972 a wildfire in northeastern Victoria burned some 
4520 ha of the Mt Buffalo National Park, 7400 ha of adjacent 
State forest and 320 ha of private property (Dexter, Heislers and 
Sloan 1977). Within four weeks of the fire being controlled a 
mission of aerial photography was flown at a scale of 1:15 000 
using a Wild RC8 camera with a 150 mm lens. The film, Kodak 
Aerocolor type 2445, was processed to negative. Seven photo runs 
totalling over 100 exposures were taken but only 50 of these were 
required for stereoscopic examination of the fire area. The cost 
of the photography including the provision of a set of contact 
colour prints on paper was $A1200. 
(ii) In February 1977 a fire which originated in grassland near the 
town of Creswick in central Victoria moved very rapidly under the 
influence of a strong northwesterly wind and entered native 
forest and adjoining coniferous plantation to finally cover 
approximately 2500 ha. Using an in-service 70 mm Vinten camera 
with a 75 mm lens on the day after the fire was controlled, 
officers of the Forests Commission, Victoria, flew a mission of 
photography under cloud covering the burnt area in several runs. 
The negative scale of the colour film was 1:30 000 and 4 x 
enlargements on colour paper were used to produce a mosaic from 
which the fire details were readily interpreted. The cost of 
this mission which did not include camera operators' wages or 
depreciation of equipment was approximately $A300 (Henderson, 
For. Comm. Vic., pers. comm.). 
Both approaches produced photography which was well suited to the task 
of interpreting fire perimeter and intensity patterns. In the case of the 
Mt Buffalo fire, the interpretation and mapping of the burnt area into the 
following three classes was carried out in four man days. 
(i) ground fuel unburnt or burnt by low intensity fire - no significant 
foliage damage to the dominant vegetation; 
(ii) ground fuel burnt by moderate to high intensity fire - foliage of 
dominant vegetation scorched; 
(iii) ground fuel destroyed by high intensity fire - dominant vegetation 
severely damaged with leaves consumed. 
Field inspection was necessary to establish the perimeter of the fire 
in some locations since the lightly damaged areas were not always clearly 
separable from the unburnt area (Henderson, For. Comm. Vic., pers. comm.). 
S. Satellite imagery - the experimental earth-orbiting satellites in the 
Landsat series have been functioning for about 6 years. Under an agreement 
between the Australian Government and the U.S. National Aeronautics and