Background
When you live in Greater Hobart, you’re never far from the bush. This makes it a beautiful place to live, but also means there is some risk every bushfire season.
The threat of bushfire will only continue to increase under climate change and as our cities grow, with more people living near the bush than ever before. This means we all need to plan and prepare for bushfire. Yet, research by the University of Tasmania shows that people often don’t know how to prepare or where to look for the right information.
From surveying more than 400 people living on the urban fringe of Hobart in areas most exposed to bushfire risk - places like Fern Tree, Mt Nelson and Lenah Valley - researchers found that:
- 87% of people living close to bushland expect to experience a serious bushfire in their lifetime
- 71% of people feel that preparing for bushfire will significantly reduce damage to their home in the event of a bushfire
- 46% of people need help to prepare for bushfire
The research findings show we still have a huge amount of work to do in preparing our communities for increasingly dangerous bushfire seasons. That's where the Sparking Conversations project comes in. Through this project we want to provide tailored information to households about how to better prepare for bushfire.
For many people the thought of getting their property bushfire-ready can be overwhelming. Others fear the expense or that they might have to radically alter their cherished garden. Through this project we want to show people they can keep their beautiful garden and still have a property that is bushfire ready.
In many cases simple steps can improve the chances of a house surviving a bushfire, including:
- removing flammable material in direct contact with your house
- creating spaces between vegetation and breaking up elevated fuels to stop flames spreading through your garden
- plugging gaps to stop fire embers entering roof spaces or confined areas and igniting a house from within.
With the right knowledge, help, and inspiration, people can easily reduce the bushfire threat to their home. In fact, a bit of forward thinking, a trip to the hardware store and a weekend of work is often all it takes to get you started.
There is just too much at risk not to have conversations with our loved ones, our neighbours and our communities about how we prepare for bushfire.
To be part of the conversation about how we make our communities more resilient to bushfire sign up for our Sparking Conversations email updates, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
