Damien Killalea
Damien Killalea is the Tasmania Fire Service’s director of community fire safety.
As such, he is responsible for the development and implementation of a wide range of policies, strategies, and programs designed to increase community safety from fire in the Australian State of Tasmania.
Killalea is the national user-leader for the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre’s (CRC) Program C, which focuses on community safety and resilience to wildfire. As user-leader, Killalea helps bridge the gap between researchers and fire and land management agencies in a way that shapes and facilitates research and the adoption of research outputs.
In the days following the Victorian wildfires of February 7, 2009, Killalea assisted the CRC in identifying key research questions and establishing a strong research effort to ensure lessons for policy-makers and practitioners would be learned from this tragic event.
Killalea is also a member of the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council’s (AFAC’s) Community Safety Group and plays a leading role in the development and review of national strategies to improve community safety from wildfires and fires in the built environment.
Killalea has had a 30-year career in the Tasmania Fire Service, including several years in senior operational roles where he managed both volunteer and full-time brigades in urban, peri-urban and rural environments.
Related Resources by Damien Killalea from the Natural Hazards Library
New Zealand Fire Service Commission Research Report Number 47
February 2005