Many have firsthand experience of bushfires and of the fires last summer that resulted in much of the park and many neighbouring properties being incinerated. This is just my perspective.
We recently built a strawbale house, partly from a thermal-efficiency and sustainability point-of-view, but also because of their excellent fire-resilience, especially when all other structural components are constructed with bushfires in mind (minimum gaps for embers, minimal exposed timber etc). The house is sited a couple of hundred metres from the nearest bush and there is a 50m buffer zone around the house of mown grass and bracken.
I was confident I could defend the property, especially after we installed sprinklers around the house, water tank and shed; the latter was important to defend, it housing our off-grid inverters and batteries. I am also CFA-trained.
The only anxious moment was when the fire was reported to be coming from the south early in the piece, five days before Christmas, and I looked at the satellite thermal view provided by bushfire.io, in popular use at the time. Only after subsequent use did I realize that the edge of the hotspot regions displayed were not the edge of the fire and, in the free version of the app, the hotspots were infrequently updated; infrequently, that is, for someone facing the imminent threat of the fire front. I turned on the sprinklers on the south side of the house and shed and waited. The smoke came north on the wind, the western sky black with it and obscuring the setting sun. Then, a break in the clouds to the south-east strangely illuminated the immediate surroundings, much like an off-set spotlight. Then the wind dropped, the temperature dropped to 12 degrees, and I went to bed.
The following afternoon, spot fires started occurring on the hills to the west. We lie at the eastern border of the park, with Mt William and Redman Bluff our backdrop. The choppers never let up, filling at our neighbour’s dam then returning time and again to drop their load on the smoking bush; but how can you easily dowse from above a log burning from underneath? The smoke persisted. A tribute to the pilots though, some, I heard, from Canada, experienced fighting their massive devastating forest fires. What a life, going from one hot summer to another on the other side of the world, to fight yet more fires.
I had regular visits from Forest Fire Management Vic crews, asking me to evacuate. “Really? I think it’s pretty defendable.” “Yeah, (looking around) you’re right, it is.” Then off they’d go. One young one asked if he could say a prayer for me. Yes, by all means!
Then they dropped pink retardant on our house! Please no. Over the roof (we’re on tank water), solar panels, paving, windows and spattering the render. Then a grader came and carved the bare sand outside the house block fence. That proved to be worthwhile and made my defence that much easier.
One of the main memories is that of tiredness; running on adrenaline; averaging barely 3 hours sleep each night for a week.
The night before Christmas (when all through the house…), the wind dropped, and the threat decreased substantially. About 1am I hit the sack. I awoke to banging on a glass door and red and blue flashing lights outside. What time was it? 3am. Two police officers up from Melbourne. “Someone dialled 000 concerned for your welfare”. The only concern for my welfare I had was to get some sleep!
The fire eventually arrived on our place from the NW on Boxing Day afternoon, about 16:30, and was passing the house about half an hour later. It was travelling from right to left as I looked out at it, with the smoke and embers blowing towards the SE. With good visibility and not feeling threatened, the sight was awe-inspiring. I could see raptors hovering at the smoke front.
Then the wind changed to come from the west, towards the house, just as the choppers arrived. They were wonderful, but I still maintain that the house was never in real danger. Then the CFA strike teams started rolling in – from Somers, Noble Park, Berwick, Mornington, even one from Bogong. They had dropped everything to come and help … at Christmas.
The next afternoon I went to check on our neighbours to the east. Their house was intact, but fire had gone through his permaculture setup, leaving little … except for some miracle escapes for his ducks and chooks.
Half-melted PVC dome …. and ducks still alive 27-Dec 14:50
Afterthoughts?
I still shake my head in disbelief that only half our acreage burnt, when just a 5-metre gap in one location separated the burnt from the unburnt bush. We have a wonderful community. Disasters can bring out the best in people. Humankind can seem so puny against nature. When a bushfire is roaring through the canopy and spotting kilometres ahead, a pre-season cool reduction burn (especially away from habitation) has negligible effect. Bulldozing our fence to widen a boundary track by a metre or so amounts to nothing. The bush is extremely resilient to fire, but too-frequent bushfires could well be just too much for it to cope with. Too-frequent reduction burns could spell the end of some species. It is worthwhile taking steps to reduce the fire risk to your house. Straw bale is a wonderful, under-used building material.
Always treasure a good night’s sleep!
Article by FOGG member John King