Powered by Tasmania Fire Service’s Bushfire Ready Neighbourhoods Program
Bushfire-Ready Challenge 3:
COMPLETE A BUSHFIRE PROPERTY ASSESSMENT
Watch the below video about this week’s challenge, and then work through the
following information and activities, helping you complete a bushfire property assessment!
What is a BUSHFIRE-READY PROPERTY?
Preparing your property is a big task. But it all starts with a knowing exactly what you need to do in order to make it bushfire-ready. To do that, you will need to get to know the 8 key aspects to property preparedness. Work through the below information and videos to gain a good understanding of these.
1. Defendable Space
Defendable space is an area around your home where the vegetation is managed to reduce the intensity of any potential bushfires.
The radius of defendable space increases with the degree of slope your house might be on. For some, your defendable space boundary may reach into neighbouring property, meaning it’s important to work with neighbours to ensure you’re property is bushfire-ready.
Watch the video on the right to find out more!
2. Vegetation Management & Landscaping Managing vegetation
Vegetation Management & Landscaping Managing vegetation is absolutely critical to property preparedness.
It will reduce the chance of direct flame contact, impact of radiant heat, and protect your home from ember attack.
Watch the video on the right to find out more!
3. Water Supply
Water supply is crucial to preparing your property so that you can ensure is is defendable during a bushfire incident. Before leaving early, you may choose to defend your property. But once you are gone it is important that your local brigade can access water to fight any fires impacting your property.
Watch the video on the right to find out more!
4. Access
There isn’t a fire truck to defend every home, but there may be a situation where your property needs one during an emergency, so you need to make sure they can find you and get in!
A truck should be able to identify your property, get through your drive way, and turn around safely and quickly to leave. If fire fighters see any risk in entering your property, they will move on.
Watch the video on the right to find out more!
5. Building Improvements
You may need to make improvements to your property to ensure it has a strong defence against bushfire.
Ember proofing will be your main consideration and you should look to seal any gaps in your roof, windows, vents or deck.
Click the video on the right to find out more!
6. Maintenance Activities
Prior to and during the bushfire season there are maintenance activities that can help keep your property bushfire-ready. These are tasks such as keeping your gutters clean, raking leaves around the property, trimming bushes and maintaining fire fighting equipment.
Watch the video on the right to find out more!
7. Awareness of Personal Capacity
Awareness of Personal Capacity to Defend Your Property Your physical and psychological capacity needs to be considered when making your bushfire plan.
Our strong advice is always to leave early. However, if you decide to stay and defend, please understand that it will be hot, scary, tiring, hard to see and difficult to breath.
Click the video on the right to find out more!
8. Potential Hazards
Potential Hazards Always be aware of potential hazards on your property.
Whether it be you or responding firefighters at your home, you need to ensure everyone can move around as safely as possible.
This includes gas, electricity supply, firewood storage, etc.
Watch the video on the right to find out more!
For more information on the 8 aspects of property preparedness, and to access all videos in the one place, please check out our Bushfire Ready Property section.
Conduct a BUSHFIRE PROPERTY ASSESSMENT
Now that you have a grasp on the 8 aspects of property preparedness, you’re likely thinking about what needs doing around your property.
It’s now important to map these tasks out specifically, so you can get to work.
ACTIVITY: Work with your household to conduct a Bushfire Property Assessment.
This will make sure you know exactly what needs preparing to ensure your home is bushfire-ready!
Download your Bushfire Ready Property Checklist below.
By conducting a property assessment, you will be able to easily identify your properties specific risks for bushfire. You can then appropriately plan to limit these risks. A well-prepared property is far more likely to survive during a bushfire and is far easier to defend. It allows fire crews, should they be available, to safely enter and defend your property if required.
Check out the video below from the ABC to get some more property preparedness inspiration!
*Please note, we always strongly recommend to keep wood piles stored well away from the house
Get further help from the TASMANIA FIRE SERVICE
Get help with assessing your property
Your local Fire Brigade may be available to help you assess your property. If they have the capacity to assist, they will have critical insight to what is required to ensure your property is defendable during bushfire.
We recommend doing your own property assessment first, and then if you like, reach out for further support. At the very least, it’s always great to get to know the crew that will look after you during an incident!
Your local Community Development Officer can assist.
No matter what, no matter when,
ALWAYS register your burn - 1800 000 699
When preparing your property, you may need to conduct a burn off.
It is always critically important to register your burns.
By doing so, you are keeping yourself and your property safe, and helping your local volunteer brigade.
Every year in Tasmania, brigades respond to a high volume of response calls for unregistered burns.
This puts unnecessary workload on the volunteers, who are already contributing their valuable time to keep their communities safe.
You can make their lives easier by registering your burn. Your fire is your responsibility.
Are you a LARGE PROPERTY OWNER?
A FREE one-stop service for farmers & rural landholders
The Red Hot Tips program educates, engages and supports farmers and landholders in rural Tasmania to actively manage their bushfire risk.
The program encourages collaborative vegetation fire management and ecological sustainability across the landscape.
More info to help PREPARE YOUR PROPERTY
Hardware stores
Find out how Bunnings (& other hardware stores) can help you get prepared (Bunnings DIY Series)
Tips on how to ember proof your home
Hear from the NSW Rural Fire Service with a quick, few tips on how to ember proof your home.
Please disregard websites provided in this video. For up to date information in Tasmania, please visit www.fire.tas.gov.au
Hopefully you’re now well on your way to assessing your property for bushfire!
Doing some hard work now, may save your property later!
See you next week as we help you take on challenge 4 - Put Together an Emergency Kit
Got a question?
Contact us via email at community@fire.tas.gov.au for any questions about the Community Bushfire-Ready Challenge.