When you meet Phillipa McCormack at her property nestled into the hills below kunanyi/Mt Wellington it is obvious why her family decided to make their home here.

The smell of the bush is intoxicating, tall eucalypts shade the house and there are signs of wildlife everywhere.

They have created their own little rainforest garden on the southern side of the house with seedlings collected from the land around them, and its proved a big drawcard for frogs and birdlife.

Dogwood and stink bush, both fire-resistant species, have been planted next to ferns in this beautiful wet space.

"That garden will be a protective factor if a fire comes up this way," says Phillipa.

Living with fire

Like so many people in Greater Hobart Phillipa and her family live in a highly-prone bushfire area, and she knows it.

"When we bought this block we knew that the 1967 fires and possibly one other fire had burned through here," she says.

"We know the fire kind of came up to the crest and moved down around the saddle and burned through our neighbour's property.

"You can see the fire scars on some of the old eucalypts."

Phillipa was in Victoria during the Black Saturday bushfires, she knows the feeling of dread catastrophic bushfire conditions create.

"The weight of the air on that day ... the sky was so heavy, and it just felt horrible."

Phillipa lost a colleague to these fires, and she admits to becoming "hyper vigilant" about fire risk since then.

So why then build a family home in the middle of the bush?

"I feel less afraid knowing the risks well, and doing what I can to prepare for them, and having a really clear plan, for getting out early," says Phillipa.

Preparing for fire

Phillipa and her husband Rob have put a huge amount of effort into understanding where a bushfire will come from if it ever threatens their property, and then landscaped accordingly.

They have cleared all of the grass and bracken from the northern side of the house, and every spring they pull on their heavy duty gardening gear to remove growing vegetation and take out all of the dead wood.

Apart from creating a clear space between the house and an oncoming fire, the work has other benefits.

"We take the opportunity to clear out that kind of stuff and chuck it in the fire pit and have a beer, and a barbeque, and sit around and enjoy the good side of fire while we keep the block from being too flammable, too close to the house."

Clearing such a large space was very labor intensive in the first few years after building the house, but over time it has proved easier to manage, with moss replacing the grass and the bracken naturally thinning out.

Doing it together

Phillipa knows fire does not recognise boundaries, and that if she works with her neighbours they are all in a better space to manage the local bushfire risk.

"I think it’s bigger than just being safe," she says. "I mean, for me it really matters that we do it together."

Phillipa, Rob and their little girl have evacuated their property six times over the past few years during the bushfire season.

They have their important documents ready to go, and they check in on their neighbours.

"We usually message or call each other if we know that really bad fire weather is coming. What’s your plan? Are you gunna be there? Are you gunna go?

"I love that we look out for each other, and part of our plan is to do that more consistently."

Back to nature

So why does Phillipa and her family choose to live in such a bushfire prone area, like so many people in Greater Hobart?

"I love the fact that I can hear birdsong, not quite know what it is and try to work it out," says Phillipa.

"We've got frogs and tawny frogmouths and the occasional Tassie devil. We've had a quoll hunting moths on the deck one time.

"I love the smell of it, I love how still and quiet it is, I love that I can leave my backyard and go bushwalking.

"I love that we catch our own water and that I feel the seasons changing.

"It snows up here sometimes and we get 'snowed in'.

"I love that I can watch the wattles turn and I know that its spring and that I can see that change around me."