A string of major bushfires, including the deadly Black Saturday fires, have been linked to the failure of ageing power lines and poles in regional Victoria. But several Melbourne universities have been working hard to find a solution and are hoping new devices that detect faults and cut power to faulty lines, will help stop bushfires before they start.
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00:00 Malcolm Hackett lost his home in Strathuwan on Black Saturday.
00:05 Fire was coming in all sorts of directions.
00:08 He has rebuilt, but the Black Saturday fires, which claimed 173 lives, still cast a shadow over his community.
00:15 Losing our home was pretty awful, but it pales into insignificance
00:20 when you think of the families that are just torn apart by death as a result of fire.
00:30 The Bushfires Royal Commission found the King Lake fire, which claimed Malcolm Hackett's home, was sparked by an ageing power line.
00:38 And numerous bushfires since 2009 have also been tracked back to failed poles and wires.
00:44 But a new device could help prevent future outbreaks.
00:47 One of the main goals of the project is detecting that a conductor broke
00:51 and taking the power out of the line before it touches the ground.
00:55 The device is still being tested, but the results are promising.
00:59 We actually simulated a real conductor breakage.
01:02 Our device could detect that conductor breakage in less than a second.
01:06 Power companies and the Victorian government are backing the technology
01:10 through a mix of direct funding and research and development grants,
01:13 with RMIT also developing a system to predict power line faults.
01:18 There's expected to be interest from around the world in the device,
01:21 but for Malcolm Hackett, it's an important development for regional Australian communities.
01:25 Anything you can do to reduce those fires caused by power lines
01:30 is going to result in a lot of families being an awful lot better off.
01:34 With more hot summers forecast, it's a technology that can't come soon enough.
01:39 See ya.
01:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]