The current State Bushfire Safety Policy Framework states:

“For survival, leaving early is the only option.”

 This is not true

Post-2009 research for the Bushfire CRC[i] [ii] found that

·        Almost 80% of home defenders in the worst Black Saturday fires stayed safely to successfully defend their homes.

·        More than 2/3 of homes in the firegrounds were not destroyed[iii]

·        Of those who died ‘staying’, no evidence was found of any kind of defence

·        Many were sheltering dangerously inappropriately [iv]

That authorities are promulgating advice contrary to the scientific research

must be openly examined.

It is as much in the national interest as Australia’s alleged spying on Indonesia.

The community MUST be advised of safe options other than evacuation.

Homes abandoned to bushfire leads to far more destroyed than need be

and exacerbation of the public housing crisis.

People MUST be advised of the ways to achieve the three safe options:

safe defence, safe shelter and safe evacuation.

Essential Bushfire Safety Tips explains every option in detail.

Endorsed by the CFA

‘An outstanding achievement

and a book that could certainly help to save lives within the community.’

---

[i] issues_in_community_bushfire_safety-analyses_of_interviews_conducted_by_the_2009_victorian_bushfires_ (1).pdf

[ii] Paper, Whittaker, Haynes, Handmer and McLennan , International Journal of Wildfire, pp 841-849

[iii] John Handmer, Saffron O’Neil and Damien Killalea, Review of fatalities in the February 7, 2009, bushfires, Final Report. Prepared for the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission April 2010 (Bushfire CRC Centre for Risk and Community, 13 April 2010.)

[iv] Ibid, page 33

THERE ARE MANY WAYS 

TO PROTECT OURSELVES AND HOMES FROM DESTRUCTION BY BUSHFIRE

There are 3 core options in considering your bushfire safety

To evacuate night before

To stay & defend safely

To stay & shelter safely

There are three core aspects of  personal safety

Radiant heat  (Protective clothing)

Dehydration  (Drinking water)

Smoke inhalation (Nose mask)

PEOPLE HAVE SURVIVED CASTROPHIC FIRES WITH ONLY

A HEAVYWEIGHT PURE WOOL BLANKET AND A WATER FLASK.

There are 3 core needs for protecting your home

Vegetation management

Ember-proofing of buildings

Water

There are three core vulnerable aspects of a garden

Type of vegetation  (flammable native, rough & stringy barked)

Undergrowth (remove from beneath trees, near walls, windows)

Placement (separate from the house and from each other)

MODIFY THE VEGETATON AND MODIFY THE DANGER

There are 3 core vulnerable aspects of a house

Roof/Ceiling space (Clear, insulate, plug gaps)

Windows (cover with shutters or metal mesh)

Subfloor (cover with metal mesh)

MODIFY BUILDINGS TO MINIMISE EMBER ENTRY AND OTHER DAMAGE.

There are three core dangers & protective aspects to your safety

Radiant heat  (Protective clothing and have a pure wool blanket)

Dehydration  (Have drinking water)

Smoke inhalation (Have a nose mask)

ADD TO EACH OF THE ABOVE

Knowledge of what to do, when to do it, and why

BE PLANNED,  PREPARED & PRACTICED

Understand that

FLAMES KILL PEOPLE – EMBERS DESTROY HOUSE

Essential Bushfire Safety Tips sets out the benefits and hazards of every option

Endorsed by the CFA

‘An outstanding achievement

and a book that could certainly help to save lives within the community.’

Bushfire Safety Policy must reveal all safe options

The current  Bushfire Safety Policy issued by bushfire authorities states:

"A ‘Code Red’ fire danger rating predicts the worst conditions for a bushfire, 
and ALL residents of high-risk areas 
are advised to leave the night before or early in the day."

Will this include every patient from every hospital & nursing home

& every prisoner  from every gaol to be transported to where? 

– Melbourne or Geelong? On the hottest days? 

Ambulances and prison vans all streaming along on roads 

congested with every evacuating resident from every rural town?

Or to will only the medical staff and prison officers evacuate 

– and leave the patients and prisoners to their own devices?

What of animal hostels, horse studs and vetinerary clinics?  

Will the staff evacuate and leave the animals – some ill in cages - to their fates?

Or will they evacuate the animals with them, 

travelling in confined quarters for long distances on the hottest days, 

subject to death from heat stress?

Bushfire authorities MUST advised the community 

of safe options other than evacuation.

People MUST be advised of the safe ways to achieve the three options 

- safe defence and safe shelter as well as the option of safe evacuation

Essential Bushfire Safety Tips and The Complete Bushfire Safety Book 

explain these options in detail

Canberra - 10th anniversary of 2003 bushfires

Canberra Times - 10th anniversary of 2003 bushfires. Also contains excerpts from Essential Bushfire Safety Tips and an article by me.

Canberra Times 18-01-2013

Safety expert slams advice to leave at first sign of danger

Much of the official bushfire safety advice given to residents during emergencies is wrong, according to one of Australia's leading fire safety researchers.

To view the entire article, click on: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/safety-expert-slams-advice-to-leave-at-first-sign-of-danger-20130111-2clsm.html

Safety expert slams advice to leave at first sign of danger

www.canberratimes.com.au

Much of the official bushfire safety advice given to residents during emergencies is wrong, according to one of 

Not a good idea to rely on your mobile phone for updates of bushfire information. Surest is a battery operated radio. 

Be aware that a car is a safe refuge in a grass fire. 

It can be a safe refuge in a mild fire. 

It is seldom a safe refuge in an intense forest fire. 

Always carry a pure wool blanket for each person and drinking water.

If a fire has started in your area it is unsafe to travel. Shelter safely by the exit door of a solid building that had cleared space around it.

As with houses, cars burn down from the inside. When people die in cars they are killed by the fuel inside the car: fibreglass, hydraulic fluids, petrol, plastics, insulation, magnesium alloys.

Car danger data

·        Duco burns in 15 seconds on a car 4.5 metres from only 40 ^o, 3-metre high flames.

·        Upholstery and trims can burn within one minute.

·        After the duco flashes over, tyres ignite, windows shatter, fuel lines rupture.

·        Fire erupts in the engine compartment, burns under car, linings overheat.

·        Disintegrating linings emit flammable gasses, molten plastic covers occupants.

·        Unbearable pain from hot fittings on bare skin can force shelterers out of cars.

·        Utility trucks ignite easier than sedans due to embers igniting material in their trays.

·        Escapees from unbearably hot cars in forest fires rarely survive.

 Suitable pull-up shelter places

·        Roadside clear of vegetation.

Ø      Safe vegetation exceptions are wide-spreading European deciduous trees.

·        Wayside stop. 

·        Brick or other masonry toilet blocks.

·        Dam or river.

Pull-up area must be cleared of vegetation.

·        Close under a cliff above which a fire is approaching.

The fire will jump over you.

·        Sports ground, picnic ground, golf course, school ground.

Not under flammable trees or on grass.

·        Beach.

·        Rocky ground.

·        In a quarry.

·        Fallow paddock.

                                                     (From Essential Bushfire Safety Tips)

Tomorrow, December 23, is a bushfire danger day for most of Victoria, southern NSW and much of  South Australia.

On such days, you never know where a bushfire will start or a flying ember will land. The golden rule - Be Prepared - means: 'do it yesterday'.

Be bushfire prepared at least first thing in the morning.  Put stock in a fallow or lucern paddock. Bring pets indoors. 

Put water, sprayers, buckets, mops, by vulnerable areas. Close windows and doors and put draft stoppers at them. Close shutters if you have them - even temporary shutters of heavy duty foil or a 'sandwich' of insulation batts between galvanised iron sheets will help greatly.  Move flammable furnishings away from windows. Bring in flammable outdoor furniture. Close car windows. Park in non-flammable area. Have protective clothing, nose cover handy and pure wool (NOT SYNTHETIC) blankets. Back up computer on external hard drive or USB stick. If precious possessions haven’t been ‘boarded out’ for summer, cover with heavy aluminium foil or bury them.

There are three core vulnerable areas of a house: the roof  space, windows, subfloor. Far flying embers, not approaching flames, is what endangers houses. Houses burn down from the inside when embers are blown inside.  Flames can be stopped in their tracks by thinning vegetation around your home and removing it from near windows and flammable walls.

Defenders, don’t waste energy and water by wetting house or turning on sprinklers before embers fall. Then concentrate on dousing embers. Put water on a burning substance, not its flames. Don’t go near bush to fight flames. 

The defendability of a house depends on people with defendable ability - with thorough bushfire safety knowledge. 

Passive shelterers must stay by an exit door.

If determined to evacuate, make house as closed tight as possible, cut grass short, get rid of flammable shrubs that are near windows or timber walls, take protective clothing, water blanket and leave as early as you can. Don’t wait for a fire to happen.

If caught by grassfire, stay in the car.

Essential Bushfire Safety Tips (CSIRO) and The Complete Bushfire Safety Book have every fact on defending, leaving & sheltering safely from bushfire.