Reducing Bushfire Risk to Property

Just read a very informative post on today's issue of The Conversation by Owen Price, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires at University of Wollongong.

It is well worth reading the whole article as it deals with what the scientific evidence actually says about reducing the risk of house loss from bushfire, but among the interesting things he says are the following:

"In the Sydney region, 40% of all bushfires ignite within 2km of the interface where forest meets houses. This figure rises to 79% if we consider only fires that actually burn to the interface on days of extreme fire weather."

"... it is safe to say that building (and maintaining) houses to the Australian Standard for Construction of Buildings in Bushfire Prone Areas helps, and that householder preparedness makes a big difference. But most households are poorly prepared."

 "Bushfire risk reduction is most effective in and around houses and householders themselves are the ones who can make the biggest difference. But the only way to eliminate risk entirely is to move the houses away from vegetation altogether."

 Given the weather we are experiencing at this early stage in the fire season, it is a timely reminder.

Don't forget that you can find the day's Forest Fire Danger Rating for the whole of the Lockyer Valley Region in the sidebar on this website.  On the odd occasion when I am unable to update it, clicking on the old map will bring up the day's map for the whole of Queensland, with an inset for Southeast Queensland.  Please share this web address with your friends in the Region.