PLEA Network

29 March 2018, CSIRO ECOS, Raising hope out of ashes of the Tathra bushfire. A bushfire and ember storm fanned by raging winds across the coastal escarpment brought devastation to the normally idyllic NSW south coast town of Tathra, destroying 65 houses and 35 caravans or cabins on Sunday 18 March. Amid the devastation, the good news was that more than 800 houses were unscathed or saved, including all houses built requiring bushfire measures since building codes were amended after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria. Raining embers. In the week following the bushfire, residents and firefighters gave their accounts of a fast moving fire that jumped the Bega River before ripping through bushland to the east of Tathra, and ‘raining’ embers and spotfires into the township. “The embers were intense and literally raining down all over town starting up new spotfires everywhere,” according to one Tathra resident, Tom. This type of ember attack and the pattern of house losses was unusual, according to Justin Leonard, leader of CSIRO’s Bushfire Urban Design and Post-Disaster Survey teams. “In addition to house losses close to the fire front, we noted pockets of destruction much deeper into the township, some adjacent to the coast,” Leonard says. “We found chunks of charcoal as large as grapes and evidence of ember-ignited spotfires all across the town.” “Spotfires have started up on decks, in gardens, coastal heath and even vegetation at the base of cliffs, taking out properties in some unexpected locations,” he says. As with many Australian bushfires, the destruction seems indiscriminate, with some houses reduced to a pile of ash and twisted rubble while next door a house appears totally unscathed. However, Leonard says there are many signs in the landscape, vegetation, building design and gardens that help understand what happened, why, and, most importantly, how it can be prevented in the future. Read More here