Advanced Structural
Designs ACN 097 789 87
92 Vasey Cres CAMPBELL ACT 2612 Telephone
61612171
Facsimile 61612170 Email mal@structuraldesigns.com.au
What can I do to make my next house more
fire proof (or fire resistant)?
In Canberra we have just been through the second worst bushfires in
Australia’s history yet many people are going to build the same type of house
that will burn down under similar circumstances for all the same reasons as the
last despite the fact that the majority of owners who lost homes would have
suffered no damage at all if they spend less than an extra $1000 on their new
dwelling.
The reason for this is that various interest groups have been running
scare campaigns saying it will cost everyone an extra $25,000 to fire rate
their home, which this is a fair impost on someone who is trying to
rebuild. The media have also played a hand in this
disinformation campaign because it makes such a dramatic storey.
It is true that if you have surrounded your home with bushland and fuel
to the point that it considered an extreme fire category protecting it will be
an expensive exercise but most of the houses lost in the ACT where probably in
the medium category where attack was predominantly by embers entering the roof
space which could have been easily and cheaply prevented.
If an owner is contemplating a steel roofed slab on ground building for
example the measures required to guard against ember attack are so simple and
trivial the difference in cost would be negligible.
The Australian Building Codes Board has been surprisingly inactive
(almost to the point of negligence) in this area over a period of years but has
recently announced a change of attitude and hinted at changes before the next
update in December.
If you are contemplating rebuilding in a more fire resistant way we
suggest you ignore the media hype and those uninformed industry representatives
and get hold of a few facts.
There is perhaps no more authoritative reference than the Australian
Standard AS 3959 the new draft of which (DR 03182) is available on the internet
at http://www.standards.com.au for
$15. If you use it you can specify a
safer home and the builder won’t know he is supposed to charge you an extra
$25,000.
For people who can’t afford the $15, PALM have some free information
available at www.palm.act.gov.au/publications/
firewise/housedesign. Whilst it all good advice in a qualitative sense, it
fails to indicate what risk you may be at and which of the various measures
indicated may be appropriate or cost effective in your circumstances. Sadly this has in many ways contributed to
the misinformation campaign.