Learning from Bushfires in Australia

This assignment delves into the devastating impact of bushfires in Australia, particularly highlighting key lessons gleaned from major incidents such as Black Saturday. It examines various aspects, including fire behavior, building resilience, community response, media coverage, and government policies implemented to mitigate future risks. Students are tasked with analyzing provided resources to understand the complexities surrounding bushfire management and preparedness.

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Buildings in bush fire prone area
Introduction
Since the event of the bushfire in Victoria, many surveys have been done in connection with
what happened and what need to be done to curb such house losses in the future. The main
questions, which result from the loss rotate, are what are the major conditions, which gave rise to
such house losses? Different views have been offered by different experts on what can be done in
order to prevent many losses, which result from the bushfires. From the surveys, it is clear that
different modes do apply when the bushfire is attacking the house. This is able to result to
different levels of damages o the houses (SBS News, 2014). This paper will be able to analyze
the lessons which were learnt from the house loss survey in Victoria. In addition, this paper will
move into details to the conditions, which gave rise to the house losses and make a conclusion on
the state of house survival under the conditions. Lastly, this paper will analyze the final report of
the Victorian Royal Commission and analyze whether it helps in providing better building and
construction conditions to curb such house losses in future in relation to the state and territory
rules.
Lesson learnt
Different house loss survey has been conducted since the Victorian fire happen to determine
what went wrong to have as such increased house losses in the location from the wildfire. One of
the key lesson learnt is that the prevent mechanism on the houses was not meant to cater for the
wildfires. It was clear that the construction standards on the location took little account of the
risk of the bushfire although the area was known to have such risk. This is a key consideration
which should have been made during the construction and ensure proper mechanisms were taken

to minimize the house loss in case of the risk happen (SBS News, 2014). The surveys conducted
on the houses lost shown that very little was done to minimize such risks on the event of
happening. In addition, another key lesson learnt from the wildfire and event is that the warnings
about imminent fires or even fire weather and the key advice about evaluations procedures were
confusing (Government Printer for the State of Victoria, 2010). This means that the time to come
into way forward on the way to handle the fire would be long and thus lead to much damage. On
the event of risk occurring, quick resolution methods, which are performed without confusion,
are always required to minimize the damages (Leonard and Blanchi, 2005). This was not the case
and a lot of damage resulted from the confusion of the mechanisms applied.
In addition, the preparation for the disasters is a key mechanism to reduce the amount of losses
which are experienced. With proper disaster preparedness, the house losses would have been
minimized. The key lesson from the 2009 wildfire and the magnitude of the house loss on the
location is that there was no proper disaster preparedness in terms of emergency services
command and control. Event with the presence of valiant efforts of the personal and crew efforts
in the field to control the loss, the worst of the loss was experienced (Evans, 2009). The
preparedness is much experienced with clear guidelines of the individual responsibilities, which
are well defined to help attain the supreme charge on the emergency operation. This helps to
minimize the key conflict areas since there are guidelines of the personnel in charge (Leonard,
Blanchi and Bowditch, 2004). The damage experienced was able to show that the definition of
the responsibilities was not clear. The lesson learnt is that the emergency services protocol need
to be revised for it to enact well to help minimize the losses, which are experienced.
Communication is key when some of the emergency events do occur. The level of the emergency
services was tested on this event and it was leant the communication channels were not such

clear to curb the damages (The Age, 2014). The communication infrastructure, which composed
of the hotline for contacting the emergency services were not working well and this led to failure
to have the much anticipated help on time. Moreover, it was leant that the emergency services
were not structures to handle such key emergencies even with the Victoria location being
classified to be at high risk of the wildfires (Muller, 2015). Moreover, it was even learnt that the
media was not even able to have the proper coverage and their alerts were inadequate.
In addition, the relevant available services were found to be able to contribute to the increase of
the wildfire (Government Printer for the State of Victoria, 2010). The commission analyzing the
event found pout that the fault in power cables and the supporting infrastructure, which was
supporting the state electricity services, was able to add to the house losses (University of
Melbourne, 2013). The defectiveness of these services was a clear indicator that poor work was
done and this was able to increase to the amount of loss. It was clear that changes on the
amenities provision needed to change and provide better services to the location which will not
increase the depth of damages on the location.
Conditions giving rise to losses
There are conditions, which were alighted and known to have contributed to the increased level
of house damage during the event of wild fire. First, the failure to have the proper building
construction methods, which were able to take care of the fire risk, was able to give rise to the
loss (Wendy Balderstone and Bowan, 2006). The building conditions were a major cause of the
loss on the event. The failure to have the best buildings, which were suited to minimize the
losses, was able to agitate the amount of house loss which was experienced. From the high level
of house loss, which was experienced. It is clear that the building condition need to change and
suite the mechanisms, which are able to minimize the house losses. About 2132 homes were lost

on the event of the wildfire in Victoria. Most of the homes were not well structured to handle and
withstand the fire risk (Douglas and Tan, 2005). This is a mistake, which was done during the
construction stage. The chances and building survival state was poor on the event of the bushfire
and this led to an increase of the house loss on the location. According to authorities, the
construction standards on the Victoria location have changed in order to suite the preventive
mechanism of such fires (Government Printer for the State of Victoria, 2010). The buildings
mechanisms have been in cooperated with mechanisms, which can withstand fire, while the
fighting the fire goes on. This key strategy is able to minimize the losses, which are experienced.
From the analysis of the bushfire in Victoria, 173 lives were lost while the owners were trying to
protect their properties. The understanding of the evacuation strategy was not clear and this led
to an increase of the loss of the lives. If the authorities would have provided a mechanism of the
fire evacuation, this would have saved the lives of those who moved to protect their properties
(Leonard et al., 2005). The building state had low chances of surviving the fire considering the
weather condition, which was windy. Therefore engaging the individuals on the fight with fire
and consideration of the buildings, which would not withstand the fire, was a wrong move and
led to the loss to the lives (Ellis, Kanowski, and Whelan, 2004). The conditions of the buildings
at this time tell us that it was impossible to control the fire considering the construction methods
used. According to the final report, the building design and town planning are key elements,
which are able to contribute to high property and house loss in case of the wildfire. These are
two main factors, which were able to contribute to the high level of fire on the Victoria wildfire.
The disasters such as the bushfire need proper preparedness. The unpreparedness or the low
preparedness of the organizations and communities in Victoria in relation with dealing with the
bushfire lead to the massive loss of the Black Saturday Bushfire (Graham, Faculty of Business

and Economics, and University of Melbourne, 2015). With the low level of preparedness to deal
with such calamities, the buildings were unable to with stand the fire and therefore led to the
increased loss of property. The strategical level of dealing with the risk is a proper way to
minimize any loss, which may be experienced. The lack of the authorities to have unclear
preparedness method was a clear condition that the losses were aggravated that it could have
been done with proper strategy (Government Printer for the State of Victoria, 2010). The strategy
employed had a great say on the level which the building were able to survive on the given fire
intensity. With the lack of preparedness, the buildings were unable to withstand since the fire
duration was extended a lot.
Analysis of the recommendation by Victorian Royal Commission
There are different recommendations which were presented by the Victorian Royal Commission
due to the existence of this incident. This are will have a look on the recommendation on the
planning and building. This area is able to relate to the curbing of the house loss, which was able
to happen. The first recommendation, which this commission was able to come up with, is that
the state should identify a central point of responsibility for and expertise in mapping bushfire
risk (Government Printer for the State of Victoria, 2010). This would aid the authorities to
urgently ensure that mapping of the building which are at risk of fire are identified and the
control measures are devised. In addition, this recommendation is meant to ensure that bushfire
areas a designated well for the purposes of planning the building and construction methods and
control measures.
Another key recommendation of the commission is that the state should amend the Victoria
Planning Provisions to ensure that the native vegetation is removed around the residential areas
for fire protection purposes. This would ensure that there are no factors, which are contributing

to an increase in fire, and therefore making the houses more prone to fire. The embers are able to
result to most burnt houses from bushfire. The control of vegetation will ensure that this cause is
prevented and therefore loss is prevented. In addition, flames from the bushes are able to lead to
fire catching the houses (Ellis, Kanowski, and Whelan, 2004). Controlling the vegetation on
these areas will help control the house loss due to bushfire. Implementation of this
recommendation would work well to control the losses. The state government has tried to
implement this but requires more synthetizes on the resident to ensure that the clear the bushes
frequently. The authorities need to implement the strategy through educating the public and
ensure that the same public takes care of its own fire control measures.
In addition, another key recommendation the commission came up with is to ensure that the state
municipal councils need to adopt bushfire policy in their planning policy framework and in
cooperate bushfire risk management planning policies and strategies (McLeod, 2003). These are
meant to ensure that the rebuilding of the structures is able to meet the specific standards which
can help the buildings withstand the bushfires for a longer duration. The states have enhance the
building authorities to implement the construction of the buildings to meet the specific levels for
their approval. This is to make sure that the house loss is minimized in case of the bushfire. In
addition, the commission recommended the amendment of the objective of AS 3959-2009,
Construction of Building in Bushfire prone areas (Standards Australia, 2009). This amendment
ensures that the ignition from ember attack is reduced. The state has done the relevant
recognition of the rule changes to ensure that the house.
Conclusion
In conclusion, different lessons on what need to be done in the Bushfire prone areas were largely
learnt from Black Saturday Bushfires. The damages and the key precautions, which need to be

done, were clearly indicated from this event. Different conditions such as the state of the
buildings and the preparedness level of the relevant authorities are cited to be the key promoters
of the losses, which were experienced on this day. The Victoria Royal Commission onto this
event was able to recommend about 67 recommendation, which would aid the curbing of such
losses in future. The state governments have taken up the mandate to implement them and are
considering Victoria more safer than before.

References
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MELBOURNE (November 2015). Learning to learn from bushfires.
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ELLIS, S., KANOWSKI, P., WHELAN, R., (2004). National inquiry on bushfire mitigation and
management, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.
LEONARD, J.E., BLANCHI, R., AND BOWDITCH, P., (2004). Bushfire impact from a house's
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