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Protection against bushfires

Bushfires affect many areas in Australia. If you live in a bushfire-prone are, you will be better able to protect your family and your home by:

·   Acknowledging the likelihood of bushfires and having a prepared escape plan for the family, including a pre-determined escape route and rendezvous location

·   During the bushfire season listening for the warnings and being prepared to evacuate if directed by the fire brigade or police

·   Maintaining a fire break around the home if at all possible

·   Keeping debris out of guttering

·   Having a good garden hose or two always attached to your outside water taps

·   Keeping the swimming pool full of water

·   Having a separate water supply rank containing at least 45.000 litres specifically set aside for fire fighting purposes (on rural properties have a dam or pond), together with a petrol or diesel operated fire fighting pump and heavy duty hoses and nozzles.

·   Not storing flammable liquids inside the house.

If there is sufficient time and safety margins, once you evacuate family members you can minimise damage to property by using your hose to dampen the are around the property and the house itself and, after blocking the inlet to the downpipe, filling the guttering with water.

If a bushfire approaches the property:

·   Don’t panic

·   Contact the Fire Brigade on the telephone emergency

·   Gather family and pet together and stay in the part of the  house which is away from the approaching fire

·   Close all doors

·   Close all windows

·   Block spaces beneath doors with towels or blankets

·   If it can done in safety, wet the roof and walls of the house and the ground cover around the property, and block the downpipes and fill the guttering with water

·   After the main fire has passed, go out and inspect the house to see if it has caught alight

·   If the house is alight and you can’t fight the fire, you should move out to a burnt-out area, or another safe are nearby.

Adding protection to homes

Existing homes can be made less susceptible to bushfire damage by:

·   Clearing vegetation from around the home to provide a fire break

·   Removing all materials which will burn readily to a safe distance from the house

·   Regularly removing leaves from guttering, the roof and around the house

·   Providing spark guards of close weave bronze spark mesh over sub-floor vents and weep holes in masonry

·   Completely enclosing any open underfloor space which is 600 mm or less above the ground with a non combustible material except around open board timber decks (remember to install ventilation openings)

·   Replacing combustible soffit linings with ones which are non-combustible

·   Fitting external doors with

o  Weather-strips to prevent burning debris getting under them

o  Mesh screens with a maximum mesh size of 2 mm

·   Fitting mesh screens to opening windows

·   Sealing any gaps or holes which would allow a fire to get into the roof space or wall cavity

·   When replacing guttering use a non-combustible material

·   For open floor spaces where the height above ground is more than 600 mm, treating the exposed flooring timbers with a fire retardant or protecting them with a non-combustible sheeting

·   Mounting the bottom of any timber posts on a metal shoe so that the base of the post is at least 100 mm above the ground

·   Replacing any timber shingles

·   For profiled roofing, lifting the ridge and hip flashing and inserting compressed fibreglass or Rockwool blanket and refixing flashing

·   For decks using either a sheet decking material or, for open decks, having an 8 mm gap between boards and leaving the perimeter ground/ floor gap open.