During bushfire season is your home safe?
Hot spells around the country and the 2008 disaster in Victoria have again given rise to the important topics of bushfires and safety for people living in bushfire-prone areas.
For new homes, legislation does a fairly good job to enforce the current Australian Standard for construction in bushfire zones and deliver good levels of protection for occupants. But when it comes to existing homes, there is no legislation and there is no government body to ensure home owners make the necessary changes to their dwellings to make them safer in the face of a bushfire.
There is, however, one feeble measure in place that encourages people to modify existing homes. It’s called the Section 149 Certificate, but for most people it only becomes a concern when the time comes to sell or buy a property.
What happens when you sell a house
When considering a home, prospective buyers will often ask the local council for a Section 149 Certificate. This costs about $150 and involves an inspector from council going to the property and listing all the aspects of the property that don`t comply with current safety standards. The weakness is, however, that the seller is not legally required to make the changes that would ensure the property meets the current standards. But the slight strength in the system is that the seller could lose the sale if the property isn’t brought up to scratch.
When your property doesn’t comply
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As a home owner, the choice is yours as to whether or not you bring your home into line with the current bushfire-safety standards - and while the exercise can be costly in many cases, it isn’t always the case.
Making the recommended changes could be as simple as replacing timber fascias with Colorbond. But if your house is constructed entirely of timber and you are located in a high bushfire-risk area, no amount of sprinkler and fire hydrant installation will help. You will find it virtually impossible to comply with safe-building standards unless you entirely re-clad the house in a non-combustible material.
Over the years, there have been many fire-retardant paints come and go from the market. Councils are typically very wary about these products and will have difficulty in certifying them as safe for homes in risky zones. Private certifiers, on the other hand, might be more comfortable certifying products like these as safe, but at the end of the day, you, the home owner, needs to feel safe, so choose materials you are confident in.
How to be bushfire safe
So let’s say you want to make your home and property comply, and by this I mean everything on the property, including house, garages, hen houses, trees and any other structures within your boundary.
Here’s what to do
1. Call council and ask if your property is classified as being in a bushfire-prone area. Also ask how your property is classified in terms of risk: low, medium, high or extreme.
2. To find out how safe your property would be in the path of a bushfire, you can have it assessed by your local council, you can engage the services of a bushfire consultant, or you can do some research yourself. If you choose council, you need to apply to have it assessed by submitting a Section 149 Certificate Application.
Doing your own research
If you choose to do your own research to ensure your property will have the best chance of withstanding a bushfire attack, you need to research two areas. These are buffer maintenance and building construction.
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There is a simple but rather lengthy (66 pages) document from the Rural Fire Services (RFS). It`s called Planning for Bushfire Protection and it explains how to plan for a possible bushfire event, how to maintain your property and so much more. You can download it from the RFS website. If you want to settle into your lounge for a few days, there are other documents you can read too, but this one covers heaps.
Building construction
The Australian Standard (AS) for bushfire construction is AS3959-1999 Construction of Buildings in Bush Fire Prone Areas. This is a great document, it is easy to read and you will be able to see straight away if your home complies with current standards. Once you calculate the construction level your home needs to comply with (levels 1, 2, 3 or flame zone) you can compare your structure with the current material recommendations and the specifications contained in the AS.
Let’s put safety first
I have had more conversations than I could count with councils and the RFS about building in bushfire prone areas and I know these government bodies do the best they can to develop and revise legislation to make all buildings in Australia as safe as possible. But the only truly effective way to save lives and property is for property owners to seek assessment and to make the recommended changes, no matter what the cost.