Wildfire Prepping your home.

A lot of info there to do with the style that the US houses are built as compared to Aussie homes.

These suggestions will suit people living on larger lands and acreage.
Going to be a bit of ranting and sidetracking here, but just going off my personal experiences of being a rural fire fighter for 5yrs

For Aussie conditions, there are a variety of ways that can be implemented in bushy areas that are prone to bushfire.
The biggest is having at least 50m of cleared ground around the house. If you live in an area that allows your to keep the grass green, keep it short and tidy in that 50m clearance area. If not, maybe look at other options for fireproof ground cover such as a rock garden.

Contact your local firewarden about coming up with a fire rating for your property with things such as fitting 2" cam locks to your water tanks that the fire brigade can hook onto if a fire comes through the area.

Also know your property.
Back when I was a rural fire fighter a few years ago, we were doing a normal backburn on a local property in prep for fire season and had spent a month planning it out and cutting fire breaks in to set it all up. Everything was going as planned, when the evening came and the supporting brigades went home and took their trucks and tankers with them just leaving our brigade with it's 1 truck and 2 utes. As we were sitting around the truck eating our pizza dinner a huge shower of embers started falling down around us and the house. 1 of the guys took off to the source to find it was a large pile of seasoned felled trees had gone up, while he ran a line down to the pile the rest of us setup secondary pumps into the pool to be able to keep the roof of the house watered down so it didn't catch, I then took a second line down to the fire front and spent the next 2hrs with my buddy taking turns at the wood pile to knock it down. It was an intense fire and you couldn't stand more then a few minutes at it even with the hose spraying it down even with the face shields and PPE we wore.

The property owner later told us that he didn't even know this wood pile was there. So if your on property, take the time to go for a walk or bike ride or drive around and do a general survey of your property to find things like these wood piles. As you can read above they can turn a well planned textbook backburn into a very serious situation.

Things like trees that are close to the house, tell council you want to fell them, especially gum trees which are notorious for dropping widow makers. Just after Cyclone Debbie hit up here, I was out doing clean up at the local school with my chainsaw and the gums there had dropped heaps of branches, 1 I was chopping up ended up being speared 3foot into the ground !
If the council refuses to give you permission to fell the tree, take it up with your local fire brigade again, they can help push the council and if still not them make a complaint to the ombudsman for your council and you'll get your permission

Small things such as fitting inline valves to your downpipes, so when a fire is in the area, you close them off and fill the gutters with water.

Keep your property access clear of large trees and such that may fall and block the road/escape path.

Keep a sort of map of your property with water sources such as dams and tanks that you can give the first responding crew when fires are in the area to make their life easier when formulating an action plan.

Help the firefighters anyway you can without getting in their way, cold water, lots of it, fire fighting is very hot and hard work and you can't drink enough water when fighting fires, same with food, don't be afraid to make some Nutella sandwiches and stuff for them, sometimes you go hard all day and don't get a break to eat something.

Get involved. Rural fire brigades are staffed with volunteers, and can always do more. You don't have to be a fire fighter, you can work the radios, or help with fundraising and events and stuff like that, lots of stuff to help with.

We aren't in a fire prone area, but I just have a certain wariness about fires given weather extremes.
I have the clearance around the house and being made of straw bale and render the exterior is basically fire proof - there are some exposed wood ends - but manageable. So not overly worried about the walls. Im worried about the roof and embers. Our roof is colour steel - and the manufacture claims it is fire proof - if embers settle on it is it likely to resist allowing them to penetrate the roof cavity? As I say - materials info says yes - but interested if anyone has any practical experience with it.

Thanks.
Think they are the same.
Down pipe plugs new one - interesting.

Yip...fire never gave a rats arse what it rolled over, hope nothing needed got toasted Frosty? Any cached goods feel the heat?

Apologies if I've mentioned this before...

I was once called to a home to quote on replacing some bushfire-damaged items in Stoneville (basically hills covered with a lot of trees & scrub - bushfires are common there) in late summer. Had it not been for a firefighting helicopter dumping water in the back yard at the last moment the house would've been lost.

I arrived to see piles of firewood stacked against the house wall, and piles of tree cuttings (including some rather large branches with dry leaves still attached) within a couple of metres of the house. I also saw gutter drains in the driveway completely packed with dry leaves. Dry, dead plant matter was visible in the roof gutters. The whole "garden" was covered in dried leaves and full of dead, dry plants. The driveway was also covered in dry matter, and this had blown into the carport.

The woman who lived there was complaining that the firies should do more to prevent bushfires.

If I was a firefighter I doubt I'd even try to help people with this attitude.

"If I was a firefighter I doubt I'd even try to help people with this attitude."

There comes a time when you have to say 'no'. Its too dangerous for me and my team to protect that infrastructure. Leave now as we wont be back.

OHS can be your friend as well.





Self-Defense Is Not Only Our God given Right; It Is Our Duty.

Scattered trees can be your friend in catching embers. Most people think trees are bad, full stop.

Add in a Honda Fire fighter, 30 meters fire hose and a source of water, swimming pool etc, and its quite feasible to have your property survive a bush-fire. We have several high output pumps, one diesel, a couple of Hondas, 100 meters + fire hoses, backup electric pumps run from the solar power systems, generators and multiple water sources, dams (3 off), and gravity fed water from 45 Kl tanks on the hill with all water lines buried underground. Everything is compatible with the RFS Stortz coupling system, as are the nozzles and hoses. A couple of fire trailers, one 750 liters with a Honda and 30 meter hose reel, another with a 205 liter tank and small petrol pump with a 20 meter garden hose to protect the bees. Not cheap, but our way of being responsible living in the bush. No different from prepping for a collapse, except that bush-fires are a guaranteed risk out here.

Cleared to bare ground 150 meters + in all directions, with the scattered trees as mentioned, roof sprinklers on all dwellings, 2 on some to get full coverage. In a bad fire, the drinking water will probably be contaminated with dam water, however, I'm sure if the circumstances are explained to the insurance company, the fact that you saved all the houses, they can fork out some clean water and the tank cleaning people.

Have a plan. Our fire plan is in a waterproof pipe adjacent to the front gate, painted red, labelled 'fire plan'. Hard to miss. It shows the locations of pumps and water sources, distances etc. Call your local RFS Captain over for a coffee, and explain to him (or her), what you have, so they can know and plan what they will need to do.

I must admit, even though the actual country is drier and potentially more bush-fire prone than our old farm on the coast, it is easier to defend and we feel much safer here than we ever did in town.

Fences will be toast, but that's what insurance is for.

Location is also a consideration. Our developments are almost at the bottom of a 30 meter deep, gently sloping valley, with a 2 Meg dam at the bottom. Fire burns slowly downhill, and short grass means a fire burning around your ankles, not over your head and much safer and easier to control.




Always have a back-up plan, because the first one won't work.