Today's Age. Ash Wednesday 30th anniversary article. 

Unearthing fire clues from the ashes.

(c) Joan Webster OAM. 

It is 30 years since CSIRO’s Dr Caird Ramsay, Director of CSIRO’s Division of Building Research and a team of  volunteers ploughed through the ashy slush of what had been homes and gardens in Victoria’s Otway Ranges. Looking for clues as to why some had burned to rubble in the February 16, 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires, and why others stood unscathed. 

It is from their dedicated sleuthing that we have gained most of today’s understanding of how bushfire attacks, and can destroy, houses.

See more

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/unearthing-fire-clues-from-the-ashes-20130215-2eim5.html