Building in Bushfire Prone Areas

Running Head: BUILDING IN BUSHFIRE PRONE AREAS
Building in bushfire prone areas
Name of the Student
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Author Note

1BUILDING IN BUSHFIRE PRONE AREAS
Topic- Victoria Black Saturday bushfire in the year 2009, Australia.
Australia, especially south Australia has been examined to be highly wildfire prone area
due to the Mediterranean type of climate in this country. In the year 2009, on 7th February, a
bushfire ravished almost the entire city of Victoria referred to as the Black Saturday. This fire
was one of the most tragic events in the history of Australia as it flamed almost 173 people and
injured more than 100 (The Sydney Morning Herald 2009). A major part of the country got
burnt down with a minimum number of 2,029 houses and 3,500 constructions in sum.
Newspapers, media, televisions were full of the news of the death tolls and the devastating
pictures showing that Melbourne, the capital of the state was highly damaged. There were other
parts of the country too which underwent great loss including Narbethong, Marysville,
Strawmen, Kinglake and Flower dale (The Sydney Morning Herald 2009). Some of the Victorian
hamlets such as Callgnee, Humvale, Wandong and Koornalla also faced extreme disaster. Each
town suffered from loss of people and massive burns. As a whole, almost 78 towns got affected
and more than 7,500 people left their homes burning behind (The Sydney Morning Herald 2009).
The reason behind such deplorable condition can be traced back to the heat waves and
extreme temperature (45 degrees Celsius) in the month of January, exactly before the event. The
dry and hot weather of Australia crated a slow pressure on the tropical areas and the countryside
dry bushes consequently caught fire. This short period is addressed to be the hottest time
Australia had ever experienced. The series of bush burning started with the Gipplesland area of
Victoria and spread frantically touching the neighboring lands. In order to survive in a bushfire
prone area, the best way is not staying within 500 miles of the land. However, still if one is to
build house in such area, some regulations are supposed to be abide by to stay unaffected from

2BUILDING IN BUSHFIRE PRONE AREAS
bushfires. Some standard ratio needs to be put on the fire resisting capability of the houses
(Moritz et al. 2014).
The houses premises are supposed to be kept clear and clean of dry leaves or wooden
equipment as they might catch fire (Stephens et al. 2016). After going through much research
and observation it has been pointed out that bushfire shutters, non-combustible decking, roof
sprinkler systems mesh fly screens, and taking shelter in underground areas can protect the house
and its inhabitants. The government should take the responsibility to inspire architects in making
such facilities affordable to the common mass specifically in the bushfire prone areas. The
Victorian Royal Commission has considered the issue of Black Saturday as a serious incident
and assured to take care of the surroundings of the places. The commission has generated the
‘stay or leave’ policy because all houses cannot resist fire, thus it is said to save the life first. It
has provisioned that by reducing the fuel loads from the area, big success can be achieved. These
provision would be helpful in reducing the damage and death rates caused by wildfires.
Topic- Wye River/Separation Creek bushfire on Christmas eve of 2015.
In the year 2015, on 25th December, a fire strike almost annihilated all the houses of the
small community named separation creek situated at the bank of Wye river. It is a small village
and during the bushfire at the Otway ranges which is one of Australia ‘s driest places, it lost its
18 houses (abc.net 2018). On the other hand, Wye river lost its 98 houses. It has been reported by
the fire officials that most of the houses which were destroyed were the holiday homes.
Fortunately, the fire did not take lives as the Black Saturday bushfires. The worth of this loss as
evaluated by the insurance council amounted $ 38 million. The Australian government had