Conference Program

Tuesday 27 October

BPAD Forum/Workshop

Time	Session (Click session title for more info)	Speaker (Click name for more info)
11:00am	NSW Planning Update and Q&A	Susan Fox Environmental Planning Specialist at NSW RFS
12:30pm	Registrations and Lunch
1:00pm	Welcome FPA Australia BPAD update and introductions	Jason McFadyen National Bushfire Manager at FPA Australia Jodi Burley Technical Officer, Bushfire Services at FPA Australia
1:30pm	Assessing APZs beyond the boundary. How they are being treated in NSW, VIC and WA.	Lew Short Director, Blackash Bushfire Consulting
2:30pm	Bush fire protection measures – Certification and general compliance	Darryl Pendlebury Bushfire Consultant at Built to Bushfire
3:00pm	Bushfire and Condensation Management for Weep Holes	Brandon Miller CEO, Weepa Products
3:10pm	Afternoon Tea Break
3:30pm	Water supply – Demonstrating compliance	Paul Johnson Senior Civil Engineer at Sowdes
4:00pm	Setting the stage for QGIS	Jennifer Johnson Consultant at Culingaia Flora Environmental Consultancy
4:30pm	Legal update	Liam Mulligan Partner at Lindsay Taylor Lawyers
5:00pm	BPAD Forum concludes
5:30pm	Conference Opening Drinks

Wednesday 28 October

Time	Session (Click session title for more info)	Speaker (Click name for more info)
8:30am	Arrival Coffee/Tea and Registrations
9:00am	Welcome, housekeeping and Acknowledgement of Country	Jason McFadyen National Bushfire Manager at FPA Australia
9:15am	Opening Address
9:30am	Bushfire resilient communities require community ignition resistance – Pre-recorded	Dr Jack Cohen Retired US Forest Service Research Fire Scientist
10:15am	Turning resilience into practice – An Australian perspective	Justin Leonard Retired CSIRO Research Leader
10:45am	Morning Tea Break
11:30am	Firefly – Sponsor presentation	Maria Kornakova National Bushfire Sales Manager at Firefly
11:40am	Arrival Coffee/Tea and RegistrationsWhen the fire reached the hospital: Lessons from the 2026 Natimuk bushfire	Alexander Glennon Fire Safety Engineer at SKIP Consulting
12:20pm	Analysis of structure losses in the January 2026 Fires (Victoria)	Nick McCarthy Senior Research and Development Officer at Country Fire Authority
1:00pm	Lunch Break
1:45pm	The real cost of getting it wrong: Incorrect BAL assessments, non-compliant products and shortcuts in BAL-FZ construction – How to avoid expensive failures	Maria Kornakova National Bushfire Sales Manager at Firefly
2:15pm	Approval pathways for BAL-FZ development	Wayne Tucker Managing Director at Australian Bushfire Consulting Services
2:35pm*	Concurrent A: Common bushfire construction compliance mistakes found in the building industry	Darryl Pendlebury Bushfire Consultant at Built to Bushfire
2:35pm*	Concurrent B: Tasmanian Integrated Fire Camera Network (TIFCN)	Rob Vernon Executive Director at Fire Foresight
3:05pm*	Concurrent A: Progress in the development of an Australian Bushfire Design Guideline: a NSW case study	Grahame Douglas Doctor of Philosophy – PhD at Western Sydney University, Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
3:05pm*	Concurrent B: Bushfire testing Includes a pre-recorded presentation on the fundamental differences of grass and bushfires	Steven Halliday General Manager, Testing Australia, Jensen Hughes Matt Plucinski CSIRO
3:40pm	Afternoon Tea Break
4:10pm*	Concurrent A: Bunbury Hospital WA: A collaborative performance approach to the application of Spec 43	Linden Wears Bushfire Engineer at Covey and Associates Jacob Drury Fire Engineer at Lucid Consulting
4:10pm*	Concurrent B: Handbook 208.1 and Handbook 208.2 – The property bushfire manual	Jodi Burley Technical Officer, Bushfire Services at FPA Australia
4:45pm	Panel discussion with regulators	Moderator: Jason McFadyen – National Bushfire Manager at FPA Australia
5:30pm	Networking Drinks/Conference Dinner	Content

Thursday 29 October

Time	Session (Click session title for more info)	Speaker (Click name for more info)
8:00am	Arrival Coffee/Tea and Registrations
8:30am	Welcome Back
8:35am	FPA Australia Update	Jason McFadyen National Bushfire Manager at FPA Australia
8:55am	Opening Address
8:55am	Wildfire insurance and the cost of construction – LA fires update – Pre-recorded	O.P. Almaraz Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Allied Disaster Defense
9:40am	Insights from the L.A. January 2025 fires for Perth, Western Australia	Anna Durkin Department of Fire and Emergency Services and Natural Hazards Research Australia PhD Candidate at RMIT University
10:10am	Morning Tea Break
10:40am*	Concurrent A: Representative design fire weather: From local analysis to regional bushfire planning	Anthony Power Bushfire Technical Lead at Covey & Associates
10:40am*	Concurrent B: Places of public entertainment within the bushfire landscape	Katherine Kolar Fire Safety at Fire Rescue Victoria
11:10am*	Concurrent A: Risk-based framework for addressing NCC Specification 43 for class 9 buildings	Edward Wilson Fire Safety Engineer at Lit Consulting
11:10am*	Concurrent B: Bushfire place of last resort – a WA conundrum?	Kathryn Kinnear Director of Bio Diverse Solutions
11:40am*	Concurrent A: Improving the inclusion of likelihood and vulnerability in bushfire risk assessment	Nathan Kearnes Principal Consultant & Manager at Eco Logical Australia Rod Rose Senior Principal – Bushfire with Eco Logical Australia
11:40am*	Concurrent B: Renewables and the planning interface, wind farm impacts on aerial firefighting operations	Rohan Williams Fire Bomber Pilot, Williams Agribusiness Pty Ltd
12:10pm	Lunch Break
1:00pm*	Concurrent A: Australian Fire Danger Rating System: End user perspectives	Owen Ziebell Manager National Projects and Capability at AFAC, National Council for Fire and Emergency Services
1:00pm*	Concurrent B: Living with the Red Steer: Ku-ring-gai Council’s fire management program – Now and into the Pyrocene	Mark Schuster Bushfire Planner and Ecological Scientist at Ku-ring-gai Council
1:30pm	Next generation toolkits and datasets for addressing DTS and performance	Alessio Arena Senior Research Scientist at National Bushfire Intelligence Capability (NBIC)
2:00pm	APZ landscaping performance and design: time to rethink the evidence base?	Rod Rose Senior Principal, Bushfire with Eco Logical Australia
2:30pm	Close of Conference