Building for Fire Protection !

When Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin on Christmas eve of 1974 it virtually destroyed that city. The evacuation of residents saw a mix of civil and military aircraft take the survivors to safety and the government imposed an enquiry to regulate a new building code that would ensure a rebuilt Darwin would survive the impact of future cyclonic storms.

We have two months of summer ahead and the effect of global warming is blamed for the early start and intensity of bushfires that have ravaged many areas and destroyed homes.  The fact that Australia is suffering one of the longest droughts on record is contributing to this fire intensity and there is every reason to believe that the summer bushfire will become an all year event.

We must learn from the effort that was made to insulate Darwin from future destruction.  The homes that burned during the present fire emergencies will be rebuilt to the old building code unless that is revamped to offer greater fire protection.  It is not just isolated homes in the bush that need this improvement.  The fire experience in Canberra demonstrated the ability of a bushfire to advance right into the suburbs surrounding the city.

Public anger is growing about the inaction in taking measures to stop global warming but we already have a hotter planet as evidenced by the retreat of polar ice and the erosion of temperature records in a relentless march upwards.   We are rapidly approaching what science describes as a " tipping point "  where weather control passes beyond the reach of human intervention.

It is imperative that the homes rebuilt to replace those lost to fires have greater fire protection and that can be achieved by improvements to the building code.  A home built to resist fire can more readily be defended by the occupants in a fire emergency and more will survive under the  protective efforts of the fire teams who respond to fire control through volunteer brigades.

As happened in Darwin, we need an appraisal in both home design and the selection  of building materials to insulate from the penetration of ember attacks which are responsible for the destruction of many dwellings.  Good design will not make a home fireproof, but it will certainly make it defensible without the need to be viewed as an " ugly fortress ".

Many residents value the serenity of living in a bush setting and clever building design can offer a high degree of protection.  We urgently need a building standard update to avoid making the same errors that made homes prone to destruction this fire season.  If we are destined to live on a hotter planet then the homes we live in need to be better suited to fire protection.

This needs to be implemented very quickly.  The replacement of burned homes will be an immediate concern for many families and unless the building code is quickly revised we will simply regenerate this fire cycle of destruction and replacement into the future.