The term dead man zone was coined by members of the CSIRO research team in Australia who were investigating the spread of bushfires (Project Vesta). The dead man zone is approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) around the fire that is likely to burn. This dead man zone can be a safety net for firefighters if the fire is moving at a high speed. The dead man zone can also be prepared in a way that slows down the fire. Firefighters can get outside the dead man zone safely without seeing what the fire is going to do and develop a plan of attack or defense upon the fire's next move. If the dead man zone is not used, wind change can sneak up on the firefighters and resulting in potentially unsafe distances where they are not able to defend themselves. This can be a life or death situation if not approached properly, and there have been examples of firefighters that became trapped and ultimately killed in Australia. Project Vesta, headed by scientist Phil Cheney, found that when the wind changes direction, the line of fire will move out at its maximum rate of spread almost immediately, and that the spread speed was nearly three times what was previously thought. Project Vesta's research into bushfire behavior makes up the majority of what is known about bushfires today.
Given this reference paragraph, who coined the term dead man zone?
The team was created by the Australian CSIRO research team