Building in bushfire prone areas
Building in bushfire prone areas presents particular challenges. Flame can come in a 120 km/h firestorm in a big bushfire. Survivors talk of it sounding like a jet aircraft directly outside their houses. Fire fronts create their own terrifying wind, easily capable of propelling burning parts of tree limbs. Wind driven impact of flying objects, weighing in excess of 5 kg, is not unusual. Usually after AbOUT 15 minutes, the fire front has passed.
Even if a building survives the fire front, the period immediately after its passing is critical and many buildings have been lost during this time. Not only are the combustible parts of a building at risk, but ember attack can cause significant damage. Use of lightweight building materials can become a real problem as they can provide an entry for flames/embers and searingly hot smoke. Smoke alone can result in loss of life. Recognising this fact, authorities are endeavouring to amend building codes to raise the standard of construction in bushfire prone areas. To combat the impact factor, ordinary lightweight construction will need to answer some searching questions, particularly when impact resistance will be needed for full protection assurance.
Construction methods
The solution is to provide fire and impact resistant buildings which provide shelter from the fire front in assured safety while protecting vital possessions. Solid walls (such as precast concrete or double brick) on a concrete slab, combined with fire protected (or fire resistant) windows, sprinkler systems, ember proofing of structures and sensible vegetation management offers a truly assured method of protecting property and lives.
Building design
Specific measures which can be included in a building's design to assist with improving a building's chances of surviving a bushfire include:
- solid wall construction
- non-flammable roofs such as colourbond steel roofing
- fire-protected windows, eg fire shutters
- fire-safe windows, eg fire tested window systems
- ember-proofing the building - allowing no ingress of embers
- sprinkler systems - on roof and in ground
- cleared vegetation around the building
- gutter guards to PReVENT collection of debris in gutters
- fire resistant plants and landscaping methods
Fire resistant building products
- Xtreme Window Systems
- Allclear Leafguard Gutter Guards
See also
- Dead Man Zone