For live emergency information access: VicEmergency app, ABC local radio (for Ballarat – 107.9FM), or VicEmergency Hotline – 1800 226 226. In an emergency, call 000

Brown Hill FireAware Network

Prep before plan: Home Ignition Zone & Zone Zero 

Start here if this is your first visit

This page is a reference resource for practical ember-proofing actions and fire season planning: what to do, when to do it, and why it matters for the specific housing type in Brown Hill northside. It works best once you’ve been through the anchor page first: “What you need to know when you can’t leave.” That page gives you the context for why these actions matter — and its links will bring you directly to the relevant section here.

 
• If you’ve arrived here directly, welcome, but we suggest starting there as well → “What you need to know when you can’t leave.”
•  Already been there? Use the section links at the top of this page to find what you need.

What you will find on this page:

Video and notes: Where the risk assessments lead: Kevin Tolhurst’s starting point for action (video & transcript)

SECTION 1

WHAT YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND before you write your plan or start ember-proofing 

1. FACTS on what is fire (video); FACTS how fire burns; how wind can change fire danger;
2. FACTS on radiant heat 
3. FACTS on protective clothing; remember to drink water/fruit juice to avoid dehydration (PDF); FACTS on woollen blankets;
4. FACTS on Fire Danger Ratings; Monitoring Rule: 30/30/30 +L

 

Looking at the risk profile for estate houses is there anything I can do? YES, by apply Home Ignition Zone guidelines.

Revisit the risk assessment for your location first? Access this link

Basis for all ember-proofing activities: The core concept of the Home Ignition Zone (video)

• What the science says about Home Ignition Zone
• But where is this research of HIZ being put into practice: Fire Safe Marin & Firewise USA
• Let these videos speak for themselves: Fire Safe Marin – What is Defensible Space? Get to know your Zero Zone (video); Fire Safe Santa Barbara Co. An Introduction to Firewise USA  (video)

The urban-rural fringe compromise: where zones overlap

• How to apply HIZ with site constraints;
• Buying Time Scenario;
• Collective argument

Do you know that Brown Hill is in a Bushfire Prone Area?  NO? refer to this FireAware page for maps and more details; does your house have a BAL rating? finding your BAL rating; two things to know about BAL ratings

 

SECTION 2

PREPARING: Ember-proofing your home zone by zone

 

SECTION 3

A SCENARIO: High Fire Day has arrived

 

Returning to where we started, Dr Kevin Tolhurst advice…

Disclaimer Information

Sources for this page

---

About the information on this page…

The practical guidance on this page is drawn from fire science research, expert assessments, and official guidance — including Joan Webster OAM, CSIRO post-fire surveys, Bushfire Resilience Inc. webinar content, and CFA publications. It is offered to help Brown Hill residents understand how to reduce their fire risk through ember-proofing and the Home Ignition Zone guidelines,  to inform their own decision-making. While specifically focused on Brown Hill’s northside estates, the guidance is as relevant to other Brown Hill locations. It is not official CFA advice — every property is different, and residents should verify specifics and assess their own circumstances before acting.

---

Where the risk assessments lead — Kevin Tolhurst’s starting point for action

Access background on Dr Kevin Tolhurst here

• Get to know your neighbours: share your bushfire plans and find ways to work together. Even 3 or 4 households could do much to lower the fire risk to themselves and their neighbours.
• Stay informed: Work out alternative ways to keep informed of possible fire threats to the area and how to share that information amongst your neighbours. Watch the weather!
• Give your house the best chance of surviving by preparing your property well before the fire season irrespective if you plan to stay and defend or leave.
• Have a bushfire plan: know what you are going to do pre-season; on high fire risk days and days leading up to them; decide if you are going to leave, or stay and defend, and then have a plan to know what to do if circumstances change; know the triggers for when decisions will be made; review your plan regularly. 

Remember: If a plan is not written down and practiced – it is NOT a plan!

Note: To revisit Kevin’s risk assessment for your location, click on this link.

---

SECTION 1: What you need to understand before you write your plan or start ember-proofing

The sections below are not a detour — they are the foundation for every action that follows. Understanding how fire behaves, what radiant heat does to your body, and how fire danger is measured is what makes the practical guidance in the next two sections work.

 

FACTS: What is fire?

When fire enters an urban environment, it is not a monster, it does not think, or have an intent to inflict harm – it is following the laws of physics. The same process applies to any material on or around your home – bark mulch, a timber fence paling, debris in a gutter. Embers land, gases ignite, the chain begins. The earlier it is interrupted, the less water and effort it takes to stop it.

Fire is a chemical reaction that occurs when flammable objects combust and produce heat. Three elements are necessary to ignite and sustain a fire, fuel to burn, heat to ignite the fuel, and oxygen to sustain the fire. These elements are often represented as a fire triangle. Source: CSIRO Best Practice Guide

HEAT: Fire requires a heat source to ignite and support the combustion process. Lightning strikes are a type of natural heat source, however, the majority of bushfires start because of human activity. This includes poorly managed campfires, damaged powerlines, sparks from power tools, and arson.

FUEL: There are many different materials which can fuel a bushfire, the majority being forests, grasslands and other types of vegetation. When a bushfire meets an urban area, the fire will spread using any combustible fuel that is available. This might include cars, wood heaps, sheds and houses as well as trees and other vegetation in the area.

OXYGEN: Oxygen is necessary to support the chemical reaction (called oxidation) that causes fuel to burn. When fuel burns, it reacts with oxygen from the surrounding air, releasing heat and generating gases, smoke and embers.

An example: How fire burns a log: Looking at fire, in simple terms, we find it follows the laws of physics, it is a chain reaction where heat (from possibly many continuous hot days) is generated as moisture is driven out of the fuel (e.g. a log) as this heating from this drying process continues the heat gets to a stage where flammable gases are released and mix with oxygen in the air. All that is needed now is an ignition source — embers, burning fragments often as hot as the fire that created them, provide exactly that. The gases ignite, fire ensues. If this process is not interrupted the burning gases produce more heat causing other material in the log to release more gases and the process continues to build.

Next time you have a camp fire or light the pot belly – have a look for yourself how fire works and how you put it out. For the pot belly you shut the door and close the vents – you have taken away the oxygen; for the campfire you put water on the material that is left (to cool) and then then cover it with soil – smothering – removing the oxygen.

This has now fulfilled the Fire Triangle: heat + fuel + oxygen – remember that the way fires go out is by taking away one of these elements. In the case of the burning log the whole burning process relies on the heat generated by the material breaking up on the surface of the log. To extinguish the fire is to cool the log. Attempting to extinguish the flames is a useless exercise as the heated log will merely give off more gases; the answer is TO COOL THE LOG, in this case with water.

The most important single principle of firefighting is to always direct your water hose (bucket) at the burning material and NOT at the flames (Source: ACT Bushfire Council)

 

---

FACTS: How does fire burn

A bushfire is any uncontrolled fire burning in a forest, woodland, scrub or grassland. These fires are unplanned, but they are a natural feature of the Australian landscape. Many of Australia’s trees and plants need fire to regenerate, and many have adapted to the harsh conditions our climate delivers. Fuel combusts when the heat source makes it hot enough to ignite. How easily the fuel ignites and (and then burns) depends on the type and amount of fuel, the shape and size of the fuel source, and its moisture content (the amount of water the fuel contains). Wet fuel will not burn, although it can be dried out enough from the heat of a bushfire to ignite.

The fire behaviour triangle: The behaviour of a bushfire, such as its intensity and how quickly it moves, depends on three factors: vegetation, weather, and terrain. This is known as the fire behaviour triangle – because all three factors combine to shape the characteristics of the bushfire. Access more information through the links in the text – vegetation, weather & terrain.

How fire danger can  change with a wind change: On hot summer days how often do we look forward to a southerly change to bring some relief from the heat. But when there is an active fire in the area this can increase the danger in many way.

Wind is a major controlling factor that determines rate and direction of spread, and shape of fire. This diagram illustrates the fire that can result from a change in wind direction. Notice that a change in wind direction from the NW to SW has caused the flank fire to become the new fire front — much larger and potentially more difficult to control than the original narrow front.

Remember: Always watch the weather and anticipate how a wind change can change what you are facing.

---

FACTS: What is radiant heat?

Radiant heat is invisible energy travelling in straight lines — like sunlight, but in order of magnitude more intense. It heats whatever it strikes before any flame erupts. It passes through glass. It is blocked by solid objects. Radiant heat is the biggest killer in a fire. The human body cannot absorb large amounts of radiant heat without its cooling system failing, leading to heat exhaustion and heart failure.(This image shows thermal radiation & radiant heat. The difference? A hot toaster emits thermal radiation (infrared) in all directions; the heat you feel on your skin when standing near it is the radiant heat.)

The scale matters. The sun on a hot dry summer day produces about 1 kW/m² of radiant heat flux felt on your skin. Sitting close to a campfire you feel roughly 3–5 kW/m². Unbearable pain on exposed skin occurs at around 5 kW/m². Spontaneous combustion of wood occurs at 12–13 kW/m². Standard window float glass cracks at approximately 14 kW/m². A burning timber fence adjacent to your house easily exceeds all of these thresholds.

A fully involved single-storey house fire generates approximately 3,000 – 5,000kW of radiant output typically resulting in a radiant heat flux of 12.5 to 25kW/m² at a distance of 2m. At 6m distance the radiant heat flux is nearly halved at 6.6-11.1kW/m². Critical limit for firefighter safety in protective gear is 10 kW/m². These things follow:

• By the time it hurts, damage is already occurring. Pain is a lagging indicator. If radiant heat is uncomfortable on your skin, go inside immediately, or seek protection behind a solid object – don’t wait until it becomes unbearable.
• Two things protect you from radiant heat: distance and solid barriers.
• Distance: Double your distance from the heat source and the load drops to one quarter. This is physics, not opinion. It is why moving even a few metres away from a burning object buys you meaningful time.
• Solid barriers: Radiant heat travels in straight lines and is blocked by anything solid — a brick wall, a steel fence, a non-burning shed, even a substantial tree trunk. Standing behind a brick wall puts you in shadow from the heat; standing at a window does not.

 

---

FACTS: What is Protective Clothing?

Why understanding radiant heat matters outside your house: Even if not actively defending a home, protective clothing protects against burns from intense heat and flying embers. It is recommended to have these items in a survival kit along with woollen blankets. Despite the heat, it is important you do not wear summer clothes during a fire. In the event of fire everyone involved should wear 100% natural fabrics such as cotton, denim or wool – synthetics can melt or burn.

The minimum for anyone going outside on a high fire danger day, when fires are in the area must wear protective clothing. Even when travelling on a high fire day have your protective gear handy.

1. Wide brimmed hat to stop embers from dropping on your head or down your back. Ensure it can be tied under your chin. If you have long hair tie it up, tuck under your hat;
2. Pair of goggles to safeguard our eyes against smoke, embers and debris in the air. Carry with you a bottle of artificial tears or gel – to avoid drying of eyes and grit irritation. Also a demisting spray to prevent goggles fogging up.
3. P2 mask with valve to cover your nose and mouth to protect you from inhaling smoke and embers. Or cotton scarf/handkerchief/teatowel for face protection and to filter smoke. Masks can be obtained from Bunnings; Hip Pocket Workwear; RSEA Safety; other workwear stores;
4. Long sleeved collared shirt made from thick cotton or wool to prevent burns to the upper body and arms
5. Pair of heavy cotton pants or overalls to shield your legs. Op shops may be source for these items. (Stretch jeans are not appropriate as they contain synthetic elastic fibres)
6. Sturdy leather work boots and a pair of wool or cotton socks to prevent burns to the feet
7.  Tough leather garden gloves or work gloves to protect your hands – not rubber or synthetic

 

Lay this clothing out before a high danger day. Do not be searching for a woollen jumper etc. while embers are falling. All members of the family need to have their own kit of protective clothing. When outside everything needs to be tucked in, loosen garments when inside.

 

---

Sometimes you may read that it is ok to wet clothing in a fire situation. To clarify no source recommends wetting protective clothing. Keep protective clothing dry. Wet natural fibres transfer heat to skin faster than dry ones — dry wool chars slowly and insulates; wet wool conducts. The one exception is a face covering over the nose and mouth: a damp cotton scarf or teatowel filters smoke particles better than a dry one. However, P2 masks must stay dry — wetting compromises the filter.

---

Remember to drink water/fruit juice regularly to avoid dehydration. Drinking and eating — do it on a schedule, not on feeling

Dr Rob Gordon OAM, psychologist and trauma expert who has worked with bushfire-affected communities including locally at Scotsburn: “High arousal shuts down the body’s normal feedback system — you will not feel hungry, thirsty or tired until you are seriously depleted.”

• Drink approximately 250ml (one cup) every 15–20 minutes while active — set a reminder if needed
• Do not drink more than approximately 1.5 litres per hour
• After the first hour, plain water alone is not enough — include something with salt or sugar: fruit juice, a piece of fruit, crackers, a sports drink
• Eat something small regularly — blood sugar drops under sustained adrenaline and you won’t notice until your thinking is already impaired
• Rest briefly every 30 minutes — “Do this on a schedule, not when you feel like it” (Gordon)

Know this warning — it may apply to you: If you develop a headache, feel confused or increasingly unwell despite having drunk a lot of water — stop drinking water and have something salty (food, a sports drink, salted crackers). This may be overhydration, not dehydration. The treatment is different. Get inside, rest, and if you are not improving, call for help.

For further detail with sources: Hydration on a High Fire Danger Day

 

---

FACTS: on wool blankets

Fire authorities, CFA, RFS, highly recommend carrying 100% woollen blankets in emergency kits and vehicles as a vital safety measure against bushfires. They are considered a crucial protection tool against radiant heat and embers, which are primary causes of injury during bushfire emergencies. Wool is naturally a flame retardant fibre and can help shield from the effects of radiant heat. The structure of wool fibre needs more oxygen than what’s available in the air to become flammable. For this reason, it’s important the blanket in your fire kit is 100% wool as synthetics can melt and burn easier.

If you do not have any wool blankets in your linen cupboard you might be able to pick some up in op shops or The Mills in Ballarat, Daylesford or Castlemaine. You will need to check the labels, as they can fade. If you are not sure if it is 100% wool, pull a few threads and hold a flame to them — wool chars and smells like burning hair. Synthetics melt, bead, and smell chemical. A synthetic blanket in a fire scenario is dangerous. Ensure that the woollen blanket you buy does not have satin edging, which will burn. If you think that the blanket is overly thin you could doubled it over or sew two thin blankets together.  

Two possible uses:

• As a stationary heat-facing layer, braced against a window on the interior side during ember attack, a wool blanket can help to slow radiant heat transfer and can help to hold cracked glass in place if the window fails.
• As personal protection if the house becomes untenable and you need to move to unburnt ground — wrap it over your protective clothing. Dampen only a corner to cover your nose and mouth for smoke filtration, if you do not have a mask. Do not wet the whole blanket.

 

---

FACTS: Fire Danger Ratings

The Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) replaced all previous state-based systems on 1 September 2022. It introduced four nationally consistent ratings based on the Fire Behaviour Index (FBI), a calculated measure drawing on weather, fuel moisture, vegetation type, rate of fire spread, flame height, fireline intensity, and spotting distance.

Fire danger ratings indicate how difficult it will be to control or suppress a fire.

The fire behaviour index (FBI) is a scale of potential fire behaviour. It ranges from zero to 100 and beyond. Higher values mean more dangerous fire behaviour and greater fire danger risk. Fire agencies use the FBI to inform decisions about the fire danger rating for a district. They also take into account information about other conditions.

On the BOM website you can view Victoria’s Fire Danger Ratings through the FBI Index (see image as an example for 8 March 2026, Brown Hill is in Central District)

The Four Ratings — What Each Means

NO RATING (white band below Moderate): FBI below 12. Fires that start are unlikely to move or threaten community safety. No proactive action required. Seasonal fire laws and Total Fire Ban rules still apply.

MODERATE — Plan and prepare. FBI 12–24. Fires may start and spread but are generally controllable. Most fires can be suppressed with direct attack. Community losses are unlikely. Standard conditions for prescribed burning. Action required: have a plan; stay informed.

HIGH — Be ready to act. FBI 25–49. Fires are likely to be self-sustaining and more complex to control. Combinations of direct, parallel or indirect attack may be needed. Unattended or poorly prepared houses may be at risk. Action required: check your bushfire plan; confirm property is fire-ready; be alert. If you are in a risk area and not fully prepared, consider leaving.

EXTREME — Take action now to protect life and property. FBI 50–99. This is the critical transition point in the system. The FBI threshold of 50 signals erratic fire behaviour and increased likelihood of community loss. Fires burn actively through multiple fuel layers. Spotting transitions from short to medium-distance (up to 2 km). Aerial suppression becomes less effective. Rate of spread in forest: 60–600 m/hr; flame height 2–8 m. Action required: if a fire starts, take immediate action. If you and your property are not fully prepared, go to a safer location well before fire impacts. Reconsider travel through bushfire risk areas.

CATASTROPHIC — For your survival, leave bushfire risk areas. FBI 100+. The most dangerous fire conditions. Fires involve all fuel layers including canopy. Long-distance spotting. High probability of loss of life and property. Homes cannot withstand fires in these conditions. You may not be able to leave once fire is active, and help may not be available. Action required: go to a safer location the night before or early in the morning. Do not wait for a fire to start.

---

Use the 30/30/30 + L Rule to help monitor conditions

• Use local emergency apps to stay updated. Set up watch zones or alerts for your property and nearby areas, and learn what the icons mean.
• Know the daily Fire Danger Rating, Check your emergency app for the rating in your area. Do this each day, 4 days in advance.
• Share updates with family, neighbours and anyone vulnerable in your community to help build local awareness and keep others informed.
• Make it a habit by checking ratings over breakfast.
• Work on your bushfire plan and practice it!

Source: Protecting your home fromBusfire – FPA

 

---

What the Rating System Does and Does Not Tell You

The fire danger rating describes the potential behaviour of a fire IF one starts. It is not a predictor of how likely a fire is to occur. A Moderate rating day can still produce a dangerous fire; a Catastrophic rating day may see no fire at all. The rating tells you how dangerous conditions are, not whether a fire will happen.

The FBI threshold between High and Extreme (FBI 50) is operationally significant. It represents the point at which fire behaviour becomes erratic, suppression difficulty increases substantially, and the probability of community loss rises sharply.

---

For northside residents, this transition is the point at which planning and preparation must already be complete — there is no time to begin preparing once conditions reach Extreme.

Significant house loss has occurred at fire danger ratings well below Catastrophic. Dr Kevin Tolhurst stated explicitly in his BRI webinar presentations that residents should not use official fire danger declarations as their only trigger: “You can have life-threatening situations outside those conditions.” The fire danger rating is a necessary input to planning — it is not a sufficient substitute for it.

---

The Rating System and the Research Evidence

The Leonard/Blanchi post-fire survey research (Canberra 2003, Sydney 1994, Ash Wednesday 1983) was conducted primarily under conditions equivalent to the Extreme and Catastrophic end of the current rating system. The Canberra 2003 fires had an FFDI of approximately 103 — clearly Catastrophic under the current system. Sydney 1994 was approximately FFDI 88 (Extreme-Catastrophic boundary). Ash Wednesday was FFDI 102 (Catastrophic).

This is important context for how the research evidence applies to northside Brown Hill residents. The findings — ember attack as the dominant ignition mechanism, house-to-house spread, the role of human intervention — all derive from conditions at the most extreme end of the rating scale.

Under High or lower Extreme conditions, the same mechanisms apply but more slowly, giving a prepared resident more time to identify and suppress small ignitions. The obligation to prepare exists across the full rating spectrum, not only for Catastrophic scenarios. As Dr Tolhurst stated directly: “chances are you will be subjected to a bushfire of lower intensity and you need to be prepared for either eventuality.”

---

Looking at the risk profile for estate houses – Is there anything you can do? YES, by applying Home Ignition Zone guidelines, especially Zone Zero 

 

Now that you have a fair idea of the complexity of the risk situation for estate residents, probably the question upper most in your mind, “Is there anything I can do?” The answer? YES. It is however, not a complete answer. It is not a guarantee. But it is the only scientifically grounded lever that urban fringe estate residents in this specific housing type actually possess — and it is more effective than most people assume. It is preparing your home and property according to the “Home Ignition Zone” guidelines and to ember-proof your home.

Definitions: The Home Ignition Zone is the area immediately surrounding your house — out to about 30 metres, but most critically the first 1.5 metres — where embers land and ignite things.  Ember-proofing a home to bushfire embers means making physical changes – before the season – that reduce the ways embers can get into your home or take hold. It is work done in advance, not on the day. REMEMBER: Houses burn from the inside out.

 

 

Before you throw your arms in the air to say, “I don’t  HAVE a 30m buffer around my house!” For estate houses this is obvious, and the reality of where you live – BUT you do,  have a Zone Zero (0 to 1.5m) and an Intermediate Zone (1.5m to 10m) which could, be overlapping with your neighbours. It isn’t much but it IS something you can work with.

What the science says: The foundational shift in understanding comes from two independent research traditions that arrived at the same conclusion. American fire researcher Jack Cohen of the USDA Fire Sciences Laboratory spent decades studying how houses ignite during wildfires (US term for bushfires) View the video below. His finding, which became the basis of the Home Ignition Zone concept, is both alarming and empowering: houses do not primarily ignite from the radiant heat of an approaching fire front. They ignite from embers — burning fragments of bark, leaf and twig carried ahead of the fire, sometimes kilometres ahead — landing in and around the structure itself…

This means the decisive zone is not the distant bushland. It is the immediate area surrounding the house. And that zone is almost entirely within the resident’s control.

This is what Jack says: “Thus, community wildfire risk is not directly determined by wildfire intensity and its location related to wildland. Burning embers, initially from the wildfire and then from burning structures within the community are a principal contributor to community fire spread. Thus, not having a flammable wood roof, removing flammable tree debris from the roof, in rain gutters, on decks, assuring nothing burns (flaming or smoldering) within 5 feet (1.5 m) of flammable walls and attachments, and vents covered with 1/8 inch (2 mm) mesh screen can significantly increase home ignition resistance… The inevitability of uncontrolled extreme wildfires spreading to communities does not mean WU fire disasters are inevitable. We can effectively prevent WU fire disasters by reducing home ignitability and collectively, the community.” 

Dr Justin Leonard at CSIRO reached the same conclusion through a different route: systematic post-fire surveys of more than 1,800 houses across three major Australian fires, including Canberra 2003, Sydney 1994 and Ash Wednesday 1983. His finding is precise: in the Canberra 2003 fires, no house in the surveyed area showed evidence of direct flame contact from the fire front itself. Over 90% of losses were caused by ember attack, alone or in combination with radiant heat from adjacent burning structures. The fire front was not what destroyed those houses. The fire front passed. Houses burned down hours later from small ignitions that were not caught.

---

Home Ignition Zone (HIZ) – The Core Concept

The following video and others sourced from Fire Safe Marin are used throughout these webpages, as there is no equivalent in the Australian context for urban-rural fringe estate housing. The substance of the videos offers many similarities to the Brown Hill context. However, there are a number of US terms that are different to what we are used to. In the US residents are under mandatory evacuation orders. In Victoria it is voluntary evacuation – no authority can make you leave your home in a bushfire event.

The main differences being: wildfire = bushfire; WUI – wildfire urban interface = bushfire urban-rural fringe/interface; firebrands = embers; lengths in the US are in feet – easy conversion for zones: Zone Zero: 0 to 5 feet = 0 to 1.5m; Intermediate Zone 1: 5 feet to 30 feet – 1.5m to 10m; Extended Zone 2: 30 feet to 100 feet = 10m to 30 m. At times they may use different names for the zones but the distances are the same.

Other building terms  e.g. “Class A roof” has the highest fire-resistance rating in US = Aus BAL rated roofing; “siding” in US = “cladding”, any material attached to the exterior of walls. Any codes or regulations mentioned are not applicable to Australia.

 

The Home Ignition Zone concept, was created by Jack Cohen at the USDA Fire Sciences Laboratory, in this video he explains the science behind how this concept was developed.

---

What this means to Estate residents of Brown Hill

For Australian urban fringe estate housing, the relevant zone is not the 30–50 metre bushland interface but the zero to six metre immediate property zone.This zone is entirely within the resident’s control, requires no vegetation permits or council approvals, can be substantially improved with low cost and moderate effort. It is the primary determinant of whether a house survives ember attack.

---

The urban-rural fringe compromise: where zones overlap

 

The Home Ignition Zone research sets out an ideal: a clear Zone Zero immediately against your house, managed zones extending to 30 metres. On a northside estate block, you can reach your neighbour’s fence before you reach Zone One. This is not a failure of preparation. It is the structural reality of estate housing — and it changes what “lowering your risk” means. Your Zone Zero is yours to control, and it is the highest-value action available to you. But your full ember risk extends beyond your boundary — into zones that belong to your neighbours, just as theirs extend into yours. The bottom diagram is northside equivalent. Every house’s ignition zone overlaps with the houses around it.

 

In a potential house-to-house fire scenario with a 3–6 metre separation between houses – one burning house directly threatens the next. Your Zone Zero preparation matters most to your neighbours. Theirs matters most to you. This is not an individual problem with an individual solution. It is a street-level problem that only has a street-level answer.

Jack Cohen, who developed the Home Ignition Zone concept, says it this way:

“A fire-adapted community is what you get when you have collectively ignition-resistant houses. And if it’s of higher density, such that you’ve got Home Ignition Zones overlapping, then you’ve got ignition-resistant Home Ignition Zones, house after house.”

Maintain your Zone Zero and what you can in Zone 1, then talk to your neighbours. Whether any of you are there on the day or not, a street where every household has done its Zone Zero is a street that gives itself the best chance of not becoming a town fire.

 

---

But where is this research put into practice?

Fire Safe Marin, California – Firewise Communities

 

The research is compelling. The logical cascade is sound. But for a resident of a northside estate who has never experienced a bushfire and has no fire frame of reference, the question underneath all of it is a simpler one: “Has anyone actually done this? And did it make a difference?”

The answer is yes – and a well established example comes from Marin County, California, a community whose situation maps directly onto Brown Hill northside in ways that matter.

Marin County sits at the urban-rural interface north of San Francisco. Its residents live in small, densely packed subdivisions adjacent to steep, fire-prone hillsides. They operate under mandatory evacuation orders – the official advice is to leave. And yet the county has built the largest county-wide Firewise community program in the United States, currently representing around 55,000 households across more than 78 recognised Firewise community sites. The program is coordinated by Fire Safe Marin, a non-profit established in 1992, and is built entirely on the HIZ / Zone Zero / house hardening framework.

The logic driving it is explicit: leave early, yes — and harden (ember-proof) your home before you go, because that is the only thing that gives it a chance of still being there when you return. This is precisely the FireAware Network’s cornerstone argument, arrived at independently, operating at scale, under mandatory evacuation conditions.

What Fire Safe Marin has done is convert the research into visible, street-level practice. 

Their program includes property inspections with written reports, fire-smart landscaping guides, community workshops, school programmes, a demonstration garden at a local fire station showing Zone Zero in action, and an annual festival attended by over 2,000 people. Crucially, it frames Zone Zero not as a council regulation to comply with but as a neighbourhood-scale decision: each property doing its Zone Zero work protects the properties around it.

There is NO equivalent in Australia: The gap between Brown Hill and Marin County is not the research, the logic, or the resident capacity to act. The gap is simply that no equivalent program exists here. The Marin example answers northside resident’s question directly: “Has anyone actually done this?” Real communities, in real subdivisions, under mandatory evacuation orders, have taken the HIZ framework from research and are putting it into practice. The science is not theoretical. It is being tested at scale, right now, by communities whose situation closely resembles northside.

---

Let the following videos speak for themselves

 

What is Defensible Space? Get to know your Zone Zero

---

Where community action meets the insurance industry

Firewise USA / Fire Safe Marin and IBHS aren’t separate stories — they’re the same one from two directions. Firewise gives residents a reason to act; IBHS gives insurers a reason to reward it. Each depends on the other holding up, and together they’re what’s kept Marin County insurable at all.”

---

Finding how to apply Home Ignition Zone with site constraints

 

This was not easy to find but the following may be of assistance. The following slides are taken from a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) presentation: Designing for Wildfires: Module 5, Defensible Space: FEMA’s Building Science Disaster Support Program,

The problem: Property owners have less guidance on how best to augment their property to account for hazards that are not within their control – including limited setbacks, adjacent to unmanaged vegetation on neighbouring properties, vacant lots, and proximity to other buildings.

Most existing defensible space codes and guidance assume a property owner has 30 metres (approximately 100 feet) of side yard around their building. In suburban and urban fringe land uses, 30m of defensible space is typically not available.

The response: Where individual properties cannot achieve the full fuel modification zone requirements the concept of communal defensible space is a practical way in which a group of structures can achieve defensible space collectively.

Landscaping and other defensible space measures – particularly for Zones Zero, One and Two – can be shared across property lines, and the design of the vegetation and landscaping coordinated across all parcels to protect structures collectively.

 

 

Enhance structural hardening where space is insufficient: Where communal defensible space is applied, property owners that are in close proximity to adjacent neighbours should also think about increasing structural hardening measures on the face of their property that directly abuts adjacent neighbours. These additional measures can further help increase wildfire resiliency of buildings and properties with various site constraints.

• Vent covers: Installing vent covers and other flame-resistant vent products on the face of the building that closely fronts another property or building.
• Exterior wall fire resistance: Increasing the construction of the exterior facade or wall assembly to be 1-hour fire resistant, using non-combustible siding with non-combustible or ignition-resistant materials and insulation.
• Using non-combustible decking, fencing, and other types of non-structural attachments.
• Eliminate combustible non-vegetative features: Eliminating the use of combustible non-vegetative features such as ornamental grass, sheds, pergolas, and other types of man-made fuels in this shared, close-proximity yard space.
• Limit or harden glazed openings: Limiting glazed openings, and if not feasible, providing double-pane windows, tempered or laminate glazing, or other types of non-combustible shutters.

 

The presenter is Darlene Rini who is a Director in the Research, Development, Testing & Evaluation Division of the Jensen & Hughes firm, in Southern California. She also leads the firm’s Wildfire Risk Mitigation Global Service Line. Her 20+ years of experience have earned her international recognition as an expert in structural fire engineering, code consulting, wildfire resiliency, and disaster risk management.

---

The buying time scenario

None of these actions eliminates risk. This is important to say plainly. What they do is change the probability and timing of ignition. A house that is ember-proofed to the extent possible gives embers more to defeat before ignition escalates. That is time — time for a resident who cannot leave to identify and suppress a small ignition before it becomes uncontrollable. Time for a fire event to pass. Time for a house to still be standing when residents return.

Justin Leonard says: “The combination of very carefully preparing a house for a fire and then actively defending it is obviously a lot more effective than simply trying to actively defend and overcome all of those shortcomings — many of which ideally should have been addressed by passive fixes.”

---

The Collective Argument

There is one further dimension to this that the research supports and that individual preparation guidance typically misses.

When one house ignites in an estate, it becomes a radiant heat source and ember generator for adjacent properties. At typical northside estate separations of three to six metres, a single burning house can directly ignite the next. Leonard’s surveys documented this explicitly in the Canberra 2003 fires: approximately 16% of all houses destroyed were lost not to the fire front but to house-to-house transfer — and this proportion would have been far higher without the suppression activity that occurred in the hours after the front passed.

Every structure that delays its own full involvement reduces the sustained heat energy delivered to the adjacent structure – changing probability, changing timing, and cumulatively affecting how far and how fast a cascade progresses through an estate.

For existing dense communities, where separation cannot be changed, the response is to “maximise hardening and minimise potential exposures by eliminating connective fuels, including outbuildings such as sheds.” No single measure is sufficient. The effect is collective and cumulative. This is consistent with the Zone Zero hierarchy and with Leonard’s independent findings from post-fire survey research. It is now also supported by controlled experimental evidence at the specific separation distances that characterise northside estate housing. Access: IBHS experimental research paper

The individual question – will my house survive? – is the wrong frame for close-packed estate housing. The question the experimental evidence supports is: What slows the cascade across a group of houses? – and the answer is the collective of individual Zone Zero decisions. A street that buys time.

Every household that ember-proofs its own property reduces the ignition risk not only for itself but for its neighbours. A prepared empty house — one left by residents who evacuated early — is not a threat to the neighbours who could not leave. An unprepared empty house is. This is a collective benefit achieved without requiring collective action, community coordination, or estate-level cohesion that does not yet exist.

The cornerstone: Ember-proofing your home is not preparation for a decision. It is preparation regardless of what happens. Whether you leave early or find yourself unable to leave, the work you do in the weeks before is what determines the outcome.

---

Do you know that Brown Hill is in a Bushfire Prone Area?

Understanding your property’s formal fire risk classification is the next step — it tells you what standards your house was built to, and just as importantly, what those standards don’t cover. Not sure if you are in a Bushfire Prone area? refer to this FireAware page for maps and more details

ALL of Brown Hill’s northside estates sit within a designated Bushfire Prone Area — a formal planning classification that triggers minimum construction standards for houses being built there. Those standards are expressed as a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) rating, and are assigned to properties at the time they are built. A higher BAL means stricter construction requirements. A significant area of Brown Hill southside is also within a Bushfire Prone Area.

Bush fire prone areas are identified as subject to, or likely to be subject to, bushfire attack. It is recognised by the presence of, and proximity to, bushfire prone vegetation, and includes both the area containing the bushfire prone vegetation and a 100m buffer zone immediately surrounding it.

A Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) is a means of measuring the severity of a building’s potential exposure to ember attack, radiant heat and direct flame contact. It’s measured in increments of radiant heat (expressed in kilowatts/m2). A BAL is the basis for establishing the requirements for construction (under the Australian Standard AS 3959-2009 Construction of Buildings in Bushfire Prone Areas), to improve protection of building elements from bushfire attack. 

Basically, BAL rating requirements aim to ember-proof your house, at the time of construction, for a bushfire front event. It provides a list of housing modifications that is useful for any resident wishing to understand what ember-proofing means. It is important for residents to do their own research to ensure their particular circumstances are covered in any ember-proofing actions undertaken.

---

Do you know if your house has a BAL rating?

To check if your house is located within a BPA and / or a Bushfire Management Overlay area (BMO), which may require a BAL rating assessment,  refer to the Brown Hill maps for a quick reference to see if you are.

If you would like to find what your BAL rating may be, you can:

• Search your property: to see if it has a Bushfire Management Overlay (BMO) status through the Victorian property system — vic.gov.au. Search your address and look for planning overlays. If you have a BMO and your house was built after September 2011 it should have a BAL rating.
• Check your Section 32 / vendor statement: this document, provided at time of purchase, should record any planning overlays including BMO and BAL.
• If you can’t locate it: contact City of Ballarat planning department. They should be able to confirm overlays on your title and any BAL rating. 

---

Two things are worth understanding about your BAL rating.

First, it was a snapshot – assessed at the time of construction against the vegetation present then. Garden growth and landscape changes since may have altered your actual exposure. Such housing would also require regular maintenance to maintain its rating as the house ages and elements deteriorate. BAL compliance is a snapshot at time of build. Mesh screens corrode. Seals shrink. Debris accumulates in tracks. A window compliant in 2015 may not be performing to spec a decade later. Maintenance of BAL features is the resident’s responsibility — the standard requires them at build but does not enforce ongoing upkeep.

“Your home was built to a standard that takes ember attack seriously. That is a genuine advantage. Your job is to keep it that way.”

Second, and more importantly: BAL ratings address radiant heat from a fire front in vegetation. It says nothing about house-to-house ignition. Your BAL rating is a starting point, not a guarantee. To find your property’s overlay status, search at land.vic.gov.au/property-and-parcel-search.

As Justin Leonard (CSIRO) states directly: even a fully BAL-compliant house achieves only around an 80% survival rate under the conditions it was designed for, and at Catastrophic conditions, regarding building standards, “all bets are off” .

---

SECTION 2: PREPARING: ember-proofing your home – zone by zone

What you will find in this section

Step 1: Assessing the vulnerabilities of your house and yard to ember attack; why walk your house (video);

• what to look for;
• Zone Zero, the critical area;
• Zone 1, the wider yard area;
• Zone 2, extended area;
• after your walk-around;
• How to create Fire Smart landscaping (video);
• Protect your deck from bushfire (video)

Step 1 Assessment Checklist to download:

Step 2: Initial actions for ember-proofing and clearing Zone Zero:

• roof & gutters;
• integrated garage;
• bark mulch;
• timber boundary fencing; stop your fence from buring your house (video)
• wheelie bins
• VBA/CFA: Guide to Retrofit your Home for Better Protection from a Bushfire

RECAP: Establishing Zone Zero (video)         RECAP: Maintaining Zone One (video)

Step 3: Actions for ember-proofing and clearing Zone Zero on a seasonal basis

• Actions for winter
• Actions for spring
• Actions for summer
• Actions for forecast heatwave days

Step 3: Seasonal Action Checklist to download

 

---

SECTION 2: PREPARING: ember-proofing your home – zone by zone

Most homes don’t ignite from a fire front. They ignite from embers — burning fragments landing in and around the structure, finding a gap, a vent, a bed of bark mulch, a timber fence touching the wall. Ember-proofing addresses this directly. Most of the work can be done once, properly, before the season. After that it is annual checks, maintenance and actions for expected fire days. The effort is front-loaded — and so is the protection.

Now that you understand the bushfire risk to you, your family and your home along with an understanding of why and how the Home Ignition Zone /Zone Zero principles can lower that risk here is a guide to step you through a process. This is not an exhaustive list – it is best for residents to use this as a starting place and do their own research for the detail depending on the characteristics of their property.

This guide is written primarily for northside estate housing however it is also as relevant for other locations in Brown Hill where there are different housing characteristics – northside Ditchfield/Benson/Hearn Rd area; blocks along Springs Rd; southside; older, pre-BAL era, or with significantly different construction. The same principles apply.

 

STEP 1: Assessing the vulnerabilities of your house and yard to embers

Why do this? Houses burn from the inside out therefore the best way to prevent your house from burning down is to not let the embers IN. This is the whole purpose of ember-proofing your house, your home. You cannot stop embers entering unless you know where they could enter.

Ember-proofing works in layers. Zone Zero (the 1.5m immediately around your house and any attached structures) must be completely free of combustible material — this removes the fuel that would otherwise carry fire to the structure itself. Together with sealing gaps in the structure, these two layers give your house its best chance of surviving an ember attack.

The 2mm rule: Any gap larger than 2mm is a potential ember entry point. Think of it as similar to draught-proofing: if you can see light or feel a draught around a door frame, window frame, or closed garage door, embers could get through. Also note where leaves and debris collect around the house — embers accumulate in the same spots. 

Here is your Assessment Checklist to download:

FireAware Step1 Vulnerability Assessment Checklist

---

When you look through FireSmart (FireAware) eyes, bushfire risks are clear

Source: FireSmart BC

---

Walk your house – what to look for

Walk around your house with the Assessment Checklist and note the condition of the items listed or areas and the actions that may be required.  If you know your BAL rating have a list of what requirements were done for your particular rating: Has anything deteriorated, been modified, or bypassed since construction? What you are looking for is how sound the structural integrity of the house is: what could make it vulnerable to ember entry – peeling paint on weatherboards; bricks cracked; tiles missing/cracked; combustible clutter under the house? 

• External walls and foundation Condition of walls (brick, weatherboard, fibre-cement). Sub-floor: enclosed? Combustible material stored there? Vents and weepholes — are they screened?
• Windows and doors Glazing type; frame material and condition; louvred windows (high-risk); awnings — material, condition, retractable? Any shutters?
• Roof, gutters, facias and eaves Debris in gutters; condition of tiles or sheeting; ridge capping; any gaps in eave lining. Worth checking inside the ceiling space for sarking condition.
• Items on the roof Evaporative cooler’s cellulose pads are highly combustible, solar panels, skylights, chimney, aerials, plumbing penetrations — each may have gaps where they penetrate the roofing material, and each can accumulate debris.
• Attached structures Verandah, pergola, deck, carport, shed, split-system unit. Note what they’re made of and what’s stored there. Pay particular attention to any fencing between the boundary fence and the house wall — a direct fire pathway to the structure.
• Shade cloth and shade sails: treat as combustible. Can they be removed when needed?
• Zone Zero extends 1.5m from all attached structures, not just the house wall itself.
• Garage (if sharing the same roofline) This is the highest-probability ignition point in estate housing — an ember ignition in the garage can enter the roof cavity directly. Check the bottom seal of the garage door (any light visible underneath?); gaps around the perimeter when closed; the internal door to the house.

 

---

Protect your Deck from Wildfire (Bushfire)

 

---

Zone Zero – 0 to 1.5m around the house.

Clearing this 1.5 metre space around your house of anything that could burn reduces the risk of: wind-driven embers igniting things near your house; reducing radiant heat damaging or igniting your walls; windows cracking under heat; embers finding weak points to get inside.

What is currently in this zone? Note condition, whether it’s combustible, and whether it can be moved. Ground cover (mulch, lawn, gravel, paving); plants and shrubs (any near windows); water tanks; wheelie bins; BBQ; gas bottles; air con units; firewood; outdoor furniture; doormats; anything stored against the walls.

Intermediate Zone 1 (1.5m to 10 m): the wider yard area which will likely overlap with your neighbours Zone 1

Boundary fencing — timber or Colorbond (including the timber base rail); cubby house, trampoline, play equipment; caravan, boat, trailer – can these be stored off site during peak fire weather? garden shed; approximate distance between your house and each neighbour’s house, and what’s between them.

 

Extended Zone 2: 10 – 30 metres

After your  walk-around

It will possibly look like a daunting list. That’s normal — this is the first time most people have looked at their house in this way.  Use it as your baseline for developing your to-do action list and review each year. File the completed checklist in your Prep and Planning folder. Once this initial assessment has been done, each year’s review will be quicker and simpler.

When you’re ready, the next step is to learn how to ember-proof your house and focus on the actions that make the most sense for your location and circumstances. Small steps before the fire season are better than a perfect plan that never gets done.

Justin Leonard (2025 BRI webinar): “If you haven’t got your house and its immediate surroundings in complete order, all the rest of the work in the broader landscape is dramatically diminished in relevance and usefulness.”

 

---

Step 2: Understanding what is required: ember-proofing & Zones

There a five critical components that researcher, Justin Leonard highlights as being priorities when ember-proofing, concentrate on these areas first:  

 

1. Roof and gutters

Embers collect where they find fuel — in gutters full of debris, around ridge capping gaps, in unprotected vents, evaporative cooler units, solar panels and in the roof space if they find a way in. A fire that starts unseen in the roof space is very difficult to detect early.

What you can do yourself: Clean gutters thoroughly before each fire season and check again after autumn leaf fall. This is the single highest-value roof action most residents can take. If you use downpipe plugs to fill gutters with water on a high danger day, clean gutters are what makes that work. Professionally installed ember guard for gutters is the other option. Everything else at roof level is a tradie job.

As the cellulose pads in evaporative coolers are highly combustible the units need to be screened. This will require contacting the manufacturer to find the best way to do this.

What needs a tradie: Before fire season, ask a roofer to check and address: ridge capping gaps, air cons and solar panels, and roof vents (need 2mm steel, bronze or aluminium mesh covers), cracked or displaced tiles, and the junction where the roof meets the wall. When booking, ask specifically: “Can you check for ember entry points?” — not all roofers think in these terms automatically.

A note on sarking: Newer houses built in Bushfire Prone Areas should have fire-rated sarking under the tiles as required by current building standards. Older houses without sarking would require full which retrofit is costly; focus on the concentrated entry points above.

 

2. An integrated garage (under the same roofline as the house): Is the highest-risk configuration

An ember ignition inside the garage doesn’t just threaten the garage — it has direct access to the shared roof cavity and from there to the whole house structure. This is the dominant type in northside estate housing. The internal door between garage and house is the last barrier — it must self-close and be as close to fire-door standard as possible.

The priority modification is sealing all of the door’s perimeter: The bottom, sides and top of the roller door against ember entry. The bottom brush seal is the most accessible first modification. Gaps in the perimeter of the garage door allows ember entry to the interior which then provides the fuel to turn a small ignition into a serious fire. There should not be any combustible material within, at least, a metre of the door opening. When investigating brush seals look for brush strip flammability index 1 when tested to AS1530.2 and BAL statement compliance in accordance with AS 3959.

Detached garage or shed are still a significant consequential fire source: It will burn hard and deliver radiant heat and embers to the main house. But the fire doesn’t enter the house envelope directly. The threat is house-to-house style radiant heat and ember output from the burning structure, not immediate internal roof cavity ignition. Ember-proof the same, but if not lined also include ember-proofing wall roofing join with wire mesh (<2mm) and any other gaps.

 

3. Bark mulch

Leonard’s verdict is unambiguous: “There’s nothing good about bark mulch near your house.”

His field case study — a BAL-29 house damaged not by the fire front but by ember-ignited bark mulch in an adjacent garden bed — shows this is not theoretical. The mulch burned hot enough to melt window blinds through toughened glass. Remove it within 1.5m of the house with gravel, stone or other inorganic material.

A well-watered, maintained lawn may be a genuine compromise. It is better than mulch, but even a well-watered lawn will dry out quickly on high fire days. It is not a true substitute for inorganic material. High quality artificial turf is also an alternative

For more details: Defensible Space Landscaping Mulch 2026; Fire Smart Yards – a visual guide for landscapers

 

4. Timber boundary fencing:

Timber fencing can carry fire directly along its length to the house wall — it is a fuel pathway, not just a boundary. Leonard is direct: “any combustible (timber) fence within a few metres of the house wall is too close — even hardwood. At that distance a burning fence delivers sustained heat directly to the structure.”

The fence-to-house-wall junction is the critical ignition point in post-fire survey after survey. The highest-priority modification is the internal divider fence — the section running from the boundary fence to the house wall, separating front and back yards. Replacing this section with Colorbond, or another metal substitute, removes the direct combustible connection to the structure. Full boundary fence replacement may not be practical; this section is what matters most. NOTE: Colorbond fencing usually comes installed with a timber plank between panels – this area needs to be cleared of vegetation.

Stop your fence from burning your house

 

 

5. Wheelie bins

Leonard names wheelie bins specifically as consequential fire sources that residents don’t register as significant hazards — but they burn prolifically. One bin stored against a house wall, under a window, or at a fence-to-wall junction are sufficient on their own to cause house ignition. (For awareness and a fire day action)

In Ballarat we have four per property! A solution is a fire-day action: on any day forecast Extreme or Catastrophic, move all bins away from the house – possibly: to the nature strip, the centre of the driveway, or some in the garage or garden shed,  before conditions peak. This is a five-minute action that removes a significant fuel load from the house perimeter. BUT be aware that moving your wheelie bin risk away from the house may increase the risk to your neighbours. A conversation to be had before the day.

---

Official guidance: what ember-proofing looks like in practice

The VBA and CFA Retrofit Guide translates the above priorities into a formally documented, costed framework — useful for understanding what each modification involves and for conversations with tradies.

A full breakdown of costs and options for ember-proofing, can be found in the VBA “A Guide to Retrofit your Home for Better Protection from a Bushfire” including the table below.

The VBA and Country Fire Authority (CFA) have joined together to provide practical advice to those who wish to upgrade their existing homes to be better protected from bushfires.

A range of options exist and this guide is divided into two parts: retrofit for generic ember protection and retrofit protection for various Bushfire Attack Levels (BAL), based upon the Standard.

Although this guide is designed to improve the performance of homes when subjected to bushfire attack there can be no guarantee that a building will survive a bushfire event. This is substantially due to the unpredictable nature and behaviour of fire and the difficulties associated with extreme weather conditions.

While this guide identifies available construction protection methods as per AS 3959, it should be clearly understood that such building enhancements are complementary to good site preparation and vegetation management in the context of your bushfire survival plan.

• Reducing the risk from bushfire comprises a number of processes and tasks:
  Assessing and managing site vegetation
  Defendable space assessment and maintenance

The guide also provides a cost and implementation guide for retrofitting existing homes for bushfire protection measures will vary significantly depending on factors, such as:

• The existing construction methods and materials used in the building
• The age of the building
• Access around the building and the height of the building above surrounding ground
• Location and access to suitable tradespersons and material suppliers so that competitive pricing can be obtained
• Whether any heritage or other controls apply to the building.

Owners are also cautioned that existing buildings may contain materials made from asbestos or have painted surfaces that contain lead. These materials should be handled in accordance with appropriate guidelines. Depending on the construction of your home, some retrofitting measures will be more or less expensive than others.”

Key Hardening Actions (Ember Proofing) The guides emphasise that “ember-proofing” is the most crucial step: [1, 2]

• Seal Gaps: Use silicone sealant, weather strips, or draught excluders on doors and windows to seal gaps larger than 3mm.
• Mesh Screens: Install non-combustible metal mesh (steel or bronze) screens on all windows, doors, vents, and weep holes.
• Roof Protection: Clear leaves from gutters regularly and consider installing metal gutter guards. Check for gaps in the roofline/tiles and seal them.
• Enclose Subfloors: Use non-combustible materials to enclose the subfloor of your home to prevent debris from catching fire.
• Evaporative Coolers: Protect evaporative air conditioners with a metal mesh screen. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

---

For a recap on what needs to be done in Zone Zero and Zone 1 view these videos

 

 

---

Step 3: Action timeline for ember-proofing and clearing Zone Zero/One on a seasonal basis 

Keeping your home and property well prepared throughout the year is essential to ensure your house has the best chance of surviving a bushfire event.

Ember-proofing your home and maintaining Zone Zero, as best as you can, each fire season is the most cost-effective insurance you will ever take out. Unlike your home and contents policy, you pay this one with your time. And unlike that policy, it may actually help your house to survive.

If you leave your prepared empty house is also safer for the neighbours who cannot leave. An unprepared empty house is not just a victim of fire — it is a source of it.

Here is your Seasonal Action Checklist to download:

FireAware Step 3 Seasonal Actions Checklist

 

In winter, take advantage of the cooler weather to clean up your property and ember proof your home: 

• Review your House and Yard Ember Vulnerability Assessment Checklist: Another walk- around will jog the memory and highlight what still needs to be done.
• Update the checklist accordingly. List ember-proofing actions could still be done before this bushfire season.
• Dispose of unnecessary clutter that is not required. Even if not combustible themselves they can still trap debris, which can burn, and embers.
• Replace bark mulch within 1.5m of house with gravel or stone or other non-combustible material
• Remove accumulated dead vegetation from around your home; remove any tree limbs overhanging the roof and clear around the base of trees; remove any dead material within shrubs and garden beds; ensure that all material collected is disposed of correctly.
• Clear the base of boundary fencing of combustible material especially if it is a timber fence. Even with a colorbond fence it has a timber board at the base of panel sections, which can also burn. Prune back vegetation that is overhanging the fence from neighbour’s properties.
• Take advantage of CoB free green waste vouchers for disposing of green waste.

In spring, get ready for the impending Fire Danger Season: 

• All your pre-season ember-proofing actions should have now been completed or nearly so.
• Declutter where things have accumulated in Zone Zero and Zone 1.
• Keep grass short, mow regularly and keep well-watered.
• Ensure a cleared zone around any permanent structure within your yard e.g. garden sheds.
• Ensure that any winter wood piles are diminished & moved away from house, but be aware that by moving it, it does not become a hazard to your neighbours.
• Check and clear combustibles from inside garage door perimeter.
• Check and maintain cleared space around trees and garden beds.
• Clean gutters and check downpipe plugs and have a test run of filling gutters (how long does it take?) Ensure you keep the plugs in an easily accessible location.
• If you have shade cloth/sails attached to your house, check their condition. If old and deteriorating possibly a good time to take down and discard. Think carefully about what to replace them with, if at all. All such material IS combustible. If permanently attached that area would need extra monitoring for ember ignition.
• If you have a water tank for domestic purposes – ensure it is full for the fire season and it has a tap at bucket height.
• Prepare / check your emergency kit; your Take Box; your high fire day Protective Clothing Tub (a set needed for all household members).
• Prepare / check equipment such as buckets, mops, hoses, etc in case you cannot leave and need to shelter in place.
• Review, update and practise your written Bushfire Survival Plan and back-up plan.

 

During summer, maintain your preparedness through the Fire Danger Season: 

• Continue maintaining your defensible Zone Zero and Zone 1 around your home, around sheds and detached garage.
• Maintain cleared space around base of trees.
• Keep clutter to a minimum on decks.
• Regularly check gutters for leaves and debris build up especially if you have mature trees close by.
• Ensure you have a portable battery-powered radio and spare batteries to listen to bushfire warnings.
• Check your hose/s and water tap fittings. Can your hoses reach all around your house?
• Practise your Bushfire Survival Plan with your family.
• Monitor the weather and Fire Danger Ratings via VicEmergency app, ABC local radio.

 

Immediate Heatwave Preparation (1–3 Days Before)

When there is a forecast of heatwave days approaching, all residents of Brown Hill should treat this as a major alert. No one should be “surprised ” when a bushfire event occurs under these circumstances. Remember, Dr Kevin Tolhurst’s risk assessments state clearly that ember attack is the primary expected event when a fire has ignited in the area (Creswick Regional Park). 

With limited distance between housing, your preparation must focus on reducing consumable materials to a minimum, within your control in Zone Zero and Zone 1 out to your boundary. You need to talk to your neighbours when you share an overlapping zone, well before this time.

If you have followed the above actions for preparation, you are in a good place when heatwave weather arrives. This is then tidy up time, monitoring the weather and fire ratings. Use this time as a practice. If nothing eventuates then there is nothing lost, but a tidy house and yard gained.

Ember-proofing the house: Actions for ember-proofing should have all been completed by now. If they haven’t pay extra attention to any vulnerable areas not yet ember-proofed and minimise any combustible material near these areas.

Clear all combustibles from Zone Zero, including door mats; garden furniture, children’s toys, bikes, etc. b-b-ques, wheelie bins; Including inside garage door perimeter. Remove any temporary shade cloth and store safely. Either move combustibles away from the house, or put them in the house.

Ensure hoses are connected and can reach around the entire house. If Extreme or Catastrophic days are forecast, there is no harm in filling gutters before the day. Have buckets also handy ready to fill and distribute around the house.

If you and your family decide to leave the day before when a high fire day is forecast, ensure you leave your home as well prepared as possible (as above). In the event of a bushfire event such preparation will lower the risk of it becoming a fuel source to its neighbours and the best chance your house will still be there on your return. Let your friends, family and neighbours know where you intend to go and swap contact numbers

 

---

SECTION 3: A SCENARIO: High Fire Day has arrived…

What you will find in this section

Scenario day context

Forecasted day has arrived – hotter, drier with wind increasing

Scenario 1: No fire in your area

LEAVE EARLY: How do you do that?

• What the research says;
• What official guidance says;
• Why leaving is genuinely difficult for some;
• common constraints;
• plan to leave? plan it properly

Scenario 2: A fire has ignited in the Creswick Regional Park

Fire Safe Marin: What to do when a wildfire (Bushfire) is near your home…  (video)

Scenario 3: You planned to leave but now you can’t

The difference between ACTIVE and PASSIVE sheltering and why it matters

• What the research says: distinction matters; why passive waiting fails; signs the house is failing;
• What active sheltering means: in practice; avoid the bathroom;
• knowing when to abandon the house – two triggers: your exit strategy must be decided before the event: where will you exit to?
• Preparation is what makes active sheltering possible
• Independent survivability: what it means and where it ends

Tools and equipment for the active shelterer: why water can be unreliable; basic equipment; tips for: garden hoses, buckets of water, wet mops, rakes, hoe or shovel

 

---

SECTION 3: A SCENARIO: High Fire Day has arrived…

Scenario context

• You (singular or household) have ember-proofed your house, the best you can;
• You know that the purpose of Zone Zero is for it to be free of anything that will burn and is now clear;
• You know the vulnerable places where embers can collect;
• You know that if a fire impacts your northside estate ember attack will be your main threat;
• You know that if neighbouring houses start to burn it could create the domino effect of a town fire;
• You have written and printed, your Plan A and back-up Plan B – they are in your folder and accessible;
• You have practiced, to the best of your capacity and circumstances: physically, mentally and emotionally to embed the plans and the decisions made that are your foundation to respond to a fire event;
• You have collaborated with your neighbours – individually and collectively;
• Your emergency kits have been checked and are ready to put in the car;
• You know the best way to exit your house and property and it is clear of obstacles;
• You have already timed how long it takes you to pack the car and leave

You feel ready… BUT you also know, as all survivors have said so, your experience of a bushfire event will take you by surprise and be unexpected – always be ready to pivot.

Forecasted day has arrived – hotter, drier and increasing wind…

Scenario 1: No fires are in your area

• You stay alert – keep up-to-date with latest information: Vic Emergency updates, the weather, ABC local radio;
• You check-in with your neighbours – assist where you can;
• You check the gutters and clear any debris that might have accumulated, fill gutters or top up if previously filled;
• You have laid out your protective clothing ready to put on if things escalate;
• Again check Zone Zero and the rest of your yard – you might have missed something;
• You have placed some kits in the car

You are prepared and ready to leave at a moments notice

 

---

LEAVE EARLY: But how do you do that?

What the research says

Dr Danielle Clode: Successfully leaving is not as easy as people think. Making sure you have what you need, that you’re ready early enough, that you’re actually making that decision safely — it can be derailed by any number of things: family commitments on the day, medical appointments, pets, a visitor arriving. All sorts of things can interfere and change plans. Staying is not an easy decision either. The truth is that leaving early is genuinely hard. You really need to think through how prepared you are to do it — and to practise it…

A common variation of “stay and defend” is the ‘wait and see what happens’ strategy, sometimes described as ‘stay and defend until it gets too dangerous, then leave.‘ This approach is widespread, even among people who consider themselves prepared. A Canberra resident described this pattern in 2003: ‘I thinned out trees and chopped down the ones close to the house. I cleared a lot of ground cover and vegetation, cleared the roof regularly and had hoses on various taps around the house. We figured we’d fight a fire until we couldn’t do any more, then we’d clear out.’ This leaves you in the dangerous position of possibly not being able to leave when you finally decide you should. That is not a plan.

Dr Rob Gordon: The leaving strategy really requires you to leave before the fire starts — or at the first indication, before you are under threat. The most dangerous place to be is on the road during a fire. Having predetermined triggers, worked out calmly and carefully with all the information available, means your decision does not depend on how you interpret the situation on the day.

Dr Danielle Clode: Scenarios are really important — working through the “what-ifs.” Simply asking yourself, “What if there is a fire? What are we going to do?” is a start. The problem is that if you don’t recognise the risk in the first place, you won’t do the planning. And that’s the hard part — getting people to accept that the risk is real. Once they do, the planning follows naturally. Source: BRI Webinars

What official guidance says

CFA advises to leave early—well before a fire starts—is the safest option to protect yourself and your family.  It means leaving the area before you can see flames, smell smoke, or when your designated trigger is reached. Leaving late means you risk being trapped, panicking, or being on the road when conditions are at their most dangerous.

CFA advises: Pre-arranged destinations: Plan to stay with family or friends located in a low-risk, urbanized area. Public gathering places: Consider shopping complexes, major regional centers, or community buildings like libraries. Fore more CFA information access here.

For those who can do this — and for whom it is realistic across multiple Extreme fire danger days per season — this is the right plan.

Why leaving is genuinely difficult for some households

Research into why householders remain during bushfires — including a 2024 University of Newcastle study of 2019–20 Black Summer survivors — identified 36 distinct factors across nine categories. Finance, road access, shelter availability, health, and pets were all documented as real constraints, not character failings.

Common constraints in northside estate households can include:

• No nearby family or friends with space to accommodate the household, particularly at short notice and repeatedly across a season.
• Casual or shift work that cannot be abandoned multiple times per summer without financial consequence.
• Children in school or childcare with no simple mechanism for mid-week early departure.
• One vehicle for multiple adults, with no realistic option to depart before partners or other household members finish work.
• Pets — particularly dogs — that cannot be left, and for which most emergency accommodation and many family households have no space.
• Elderly or mobility-limited household members who require time, assistance, and pre-arranged accommodation suitable to their needs.
• Cost of motel or alternative accommodation, particularly across 3–5 Extreme fire danger days per season when no fire has started and returning home the same evening feels unnecessary.

None of these is unusual. Together they describe a large proportion of northside household circumstances. The research confirms what common sense suggests: for these households, ‘leave early’ is not an easy option for every qualifying day.

As an example, here is a checklist for just ONE aspect of a plan to leave: “Checklist Household Not Together“. It covers: WHO makes the call (the decision maker); IF children are at school; IF a household member is at work or away; IF someone is home alone (elderly, mobility-limited, ot unwell). This is but one aspect that requires making a decision on at the beginning of the season. However, Unlike a constant routine, people’s day-to-day lives are shaped by shifting schedules, unexpected events, and evolving needs. This then adds to the complexity of keeping this simple list up-to-date.

The biggest questions: “Where do we go?” and “How do we get there?” are often the hardest to answer and there is no one “Leave Early” template that will suit all households. Each household needs to devise their own according to the circumstances they live with every day, WELL before the fire season.

Planning to leave? Plan it properly

Following can help make it real rather than an intention:

• Do you know the risk of late evacuation? 
• Work through the constraints list above and see what is relevant for your household. Add extras if they apply.
• Work out how you can deal with each, in detail, in the context of “leaving early”.
• Run through a number of scenarios to see how they can work or not, adjust.
• Know what you are going to do before you leave; practice it and time it.
• Decide your destination before the season, not on the morning of a fire day. A specific address, not a direction.
• Confirm the arrangement in advance with whoever is hosting you — and be honest about what happens if the house burns and you need to stay for weeks, not hours.
• Know the route you will take; have a back-up if it is blocked.
• Have a pet plan that does not depend on solving the problem on the day. This includes which destination accepts pets and what happens if your first option falls through.
• Know your trigger: the fire danger rating and forecast conditions at which you will leave, decided in advance. Not ‘when it looks bad.’ A specific rating, a specific time.
• Keep the car fuelled through fire season. Petrol stations on exit routes can run low or queue on high-risk days.
• Leave before mid-morning on qualifying days. Fire conditions peak in the afternoon. Smoke visibility and road access can deteriorate rapidly once a fire starts. Early means early.
• Pack as if the house will not be there when you return: documents, medications, irreplaceable items, enough for several days.
• Practice leaving – time it.
• When things change – adapt and improvise!

Tolhurst’s specific assessment: Even under High or Extreme conditions a fire may start quite close to you and within an hour be impacting your property. The window between ‘thinking about leaving’ and ‘too late to leave safely’ is shorter than most residents assume.

 

---

Scenario 2: A fire has ignited in the Creswick Regional Park, you are leaving

• You do one last check of house (all doors and windows closed; furniture moved away from windows; wool curtains closed – if not wool take them down and store in cupboard; stow away loose items e.g. cushions; newspapers external shutters down; etc.)
• You turn off gas, electricity at the meter;
• You do a last check of Zone Zero, Zone I and your cleared exit route from house; remove doormats, ensure your wheelie bins are safely away from house and your neighbours;
• You top up your emergency kits and place in car;
• You TEXT your contacts and TELL your neighbours you are leaving;

You LEAVE and follow your pre-determined route and arrive at your pre-determined destination BEFORE any bushfire event impacts your estate

 

---

Here is what FireSafe Marin suggests for their residents when a fire is approaching and they are leaving:

Here are the main points from this Fire Safe Marin video, framed as some background for your fire day action plan:

• The decision threshold These actions are for when you have two or more hours before a fire arrives — not when embers are falling. On a high fire danger day with no fire yet, or a fire burning nearby, these steps are worth taking. If your when to leave trigger comes, conditions deteriorate, or embers fall — leave immediately, skip everything else.
• Inside the house first Close all windows and doors (but leave unlocked). Close all internal doors to create compartments that slow fire spread and buy time. Turn on every light inside and out — even in daylight, approaching fire darkens the sky and lights help firefighters locate the house. Turn off all fans and air conditioning to prevent drawing smoke and embers through the house.
• Remove combustibles from around the house Move outdoor furniture cushions, wicker furniture, doormats, rubbish bins, and any firewood away from the structure — either 9 metres clear or brought inside. The goal is breaking the ember-to-ignition pathway in the immediate zone.
• Water Connect all garden hoses with nozzles and leave them accessible for firefighters. Fill buckets and position them outside — a backup if mains pressure fails.
• Gutters Last-minute check and clear if safe to do so.
• Practical actions that help firefighters Back the car in facing out. Prop open all gates — this breaks the fuel connection between timber fencing and the house wall. Place household ladders visibly near the roof line so firefighters can access the roof quickly without unloading their own.
• Vents Cover subfloor and attic vents with pre-made covers or heavy aluminised tape if time allows.
• Then monitor — until you can’t Patrol the property, watch the sky, stay connected to emergency alerts. When conditions change or embers appear — go.

---

Scenario 3: Your plan was to leave but now you can’t

• For reasons not expected, you have been delayed and embers have started to fall;
• You finally leave but you find your designated exit road is now blocked (e.g. tree down; too many late leavers have formed a bottle neck at Daylesford Rd);
• Vic Emergency messaging says, “Too late to leave, shelter in place”;
• You retreat back to your house;
• You put on your protective clothing, if you haven’t already done so;
• You enact your plan for “unable to leave”
• You know, that if your house becomes untenable to stay you already know your best route to leave the house to find that burnt bit of ground – you know this route is clear of obstacles

Plan A is scrapped. You immediately pivot to Plan B. You don’t dither – you breath.

 

---

The difference between active and passive sheltering and why it matters

 

CFA advises: Fires are unpredictable and plans can fail. Having a back up plan can save your life if you are caught in a fire. If you cannot leave the area, consider shelter options close by. These may include: a well-prepared home (yours or a neighbour) that you can actively defend; a private bunker (that meets current regulations) – ED: highly unlikely in northside; a designated community shelter or refuge – ED: there are none in Brown Hill

VicEmergency “Monitor and defend your property when the fire is nearby. Look for embers to put out on both the outside and inside of your property”

What the research says

The distinction matters. Active sheltering means continuously monitoring conditions inside and outside the house and responding — extinguishing small fires, preventing smoke entry, caring for dependants. Inactive sheltering is retreating to a room and waiting. The research is consistent: inactive sheltering significantly reduces your chance of survival.

Dr Raphaele Blanchi’s (CSIRO) research across Black Saturday, Ash Wednesday, and the 2019–20 fires put numbers on it: of 325 households studied, only 22 members sheltered inactively — almost always children, the elderly, or dependants who had no choice. The vast majority of adults were actively monitoring and responding.

Why passive waiting fails

The specific danger is hidden ignition. Embers can enter wall cavities, roof spaces, and underfloor areas and start fires that are invisible — burning unseen before breaking through. A house can be well advanced in fire before the occupants inside are even aware it has started.

Raphaele Blanchi: “The house can catch fire before people can even understand that happened.”

Signs the house is failing: smoke rapidly filling rooms, ceiling or floor beginning to move, rapid flame spread through cavities, items near windows starting to ignite. These are not signals to investigate — they are signals to leave.

---

What active sheltering actually means

It is not passive waiting and it is not fighting fire. It is deliberate surveillance and targeted response. Justin Leonard (CSIRO) frames it directly:

Justin Leonard: “The reason for actively monitoring and moving around the house is that, in the early stages of a bushfire, the interior of a well-prepared structure is generally survivable. If something is found, it may still be within your means to act: suppress a small ignition, cover a cracked window, or protect a vulnerable area before it develops further. That is the active component of sheltering in place — not passive waiting, but deliberate surveillance.”

In practice, active sheltering means

• Roaming through the house — not staying in one room. All parts of a well-prepared house are survivable in the early stages. Move through it and check every room.
• Checking the ceiling space. Embers entering the roof cavity can smoulder for an extended time before breaking through. If you can access the manhole safely with a torch, periodic checks are worth making.
• Watching for smoke from inside walls or ceiling. Smell and sound matter as much as sight — crackling from a wall cavity is a signal.
• Addressing small ignitions immediately. A smouldering curtain or debris against a window can be dealt with using stored water while still minor. The same fire undetected for ten minutes cannot.
• Knowing when to stop and leave. If a section of the house has ignited and is developing into a full structure fire, the clock has started. Exit before the house becomes untenable — not after.

NOTE: Avoid the bathroom. Blanchi’s research specifically identifies the bathroom as a commonly chosen but poor shelter room: no visibility to the outside, typically one door with no direct exit, and children were frequently confined there alone. The instinct to retreat to the bathroom — possibly inherited from cyclone guidance — does not apply in a bushfire. You need to be able to see what is happening outside, and you need more than one way out.

 

---

Knowing when to abandon the house — two triggers, not one

Most guidance focuses on one trigger: your own house becoming untenable. For estate residents, there is a second trigger that must be equally understood.

• Trigger 1: Your house is failing. Signs described above — rapidly filling smoke, ceiling or floor movement, flame spread through cavities. Exit to already-burnt ground outside. Moving to unburnt ground while fire is still active is significantly more dangerous.
• Trigger 2: A neighbouring house ignites. At the 3–6 metre separations typical of northside estate housing, a fully involved neighbouring house generates radiant heat that can crack windows and ignite your structure even if your house has not yet been touched by embers directly. Leonard’s post-fire surveys documented house-to-house transfer as a significant secondary mechanism at exactly these separations. A burning house next door is not something you monitor from inside. It is a signal to prepare to leave.

Your exit strategy must be decided before the event

If either trigger is reached, you will need to leave. That decision — which door, which route, to where — must be worked out well beforehand, not improvised under heat, smoke, and fear. Think through more than one exit pathway and understand what each means in practice: would you have to traverse a deck to exit? Is there another route if the deck is burning? Is there a close neighbouring house on the side of your primary exit? Is there another clearer route to exit?

Where will you exit to? Already burnt ground is the general advice. Remember that any already burnt ground will still be hot. Protective clothing including sturdy footwear for all household members is a must along with 100% woollen blankets for each.

---

Preparation is what makes active sheltering possible

Katharine Haynes (University of Wollongong), whose Black Saturday sheltering research with Blanchi is the most comprehensive study of its kind, frames the outcome plainly:

Katharine Haynes: “Despite a general lack of awareness and preparedness for sheltering, when the fires threatened, most people were able to shelter actively and safely, and monitored what was happening and took actions to protect themselves and other people. And the research shows that people who had the best sheltering experiences had undertaken planning and preparation.”

The preparation that enables active sheltering is the same preparation described throughout this page: ember-proofed structure, Zone Zero cleared, stored water accessible, protective clothing for all household members, exit routes identified and clear. None of it is improvised on the day. All of it is done well in advance.

Independent survivability

Sources: Dr Raphaele Blanchi, BRI Webinar 5 2021, ‘Your sheltering options’; Dr Justin Leonard, BRI Webinar 3 2023, ‘Reducing risks for people and houses’; Dr Katharine Haynes, BRI Webinar 5 2021 panel discussion — all available at bushfireresilience.org.au. Blanchi & Leonard (2005), Investigation of Bushfire Attack Mechanisms Resulting in House Loss, ACT Bushfire 2003, CSIRO/Bushfire CRC.

---

Tools & Equipment for Active Shelterers 

 

Remember: The basics of how fire burns – for a fire to continue to burn it needs oxygen, heat and fuel – take one away and the fire will go out.

If you find yourself having to actively shelter here are some basics that could assist:

Why water can be unreliable – use it wisely

• Water pressure warning: During a major fire event, mains water pressure can drop significantly as demand across estates peak.
• Do not assume your garden hose will deliver adequate pressure when you need it most. Pre-fill baths, laundry tubs, and large buckets, an empty wheelie bin, before a high fire danger day. If you have a domestic water tank – ensure pre-season, that a suitable external tap is fitted to fill buckets AND the tank is full at start of season.
• Be aware that spraying water into a fully involved neighbouring house does nothing to save yours.
• Use only what is needed to break the fire. Do not disperse water broadly.
• Prioritise: any smouldering material within your zone zero of the house, especially at the garage door and fence junctions.
• Most effective uses of water: wetting specific ignition points; knocking down small spot fires; interior suppression of early ignitions.
• A soaked natural fibre fabric or leafy branch can be used to swat small surface fires — combining wetting with smothering and using less water than pouring

Remember: Your role is not to fight the bushfire it is to only deal with embers/spot fires on and by the house – your zone zero. Your pattern of protection. Outside, Inside, Outside  with selective, short external actions. Post-fire evidence shows survivors going outside briefly, extinguishing spot ignitions, retreating inside repeatedly. This is not sustained firefighting; it is surgical interruption of ignition.

Basic equipment

garden hose/s; buckets and anything else that will hold water; cotton mops; rakes, hoe or shovels; water sprayers

Tips for garden hoses/water sprayers 

Make sure that hoses are long enough to reach all around perimeter of house

• Keep strategically located buckets full in place
• Use a nozzle with an adjustable spray pattern. A solid stream for direct application to burning material; a spray for wetting surrounding surfaces.
• Direct the stream at the base of the fire — at the burning material — not at the flames above it
• After knocking down the visible fire, wet the surrounding ground and vegetation thoroughly to prevent reignition from residual embers
• Patrol the area for several hours afterwards. Embers can smoulder in mulch, leaf litter, and debris for hours before flaring

Tips for buckets of water

When mains pressure fails, pre-filled buckets become your primary resource. Fill baths, laundry tubs, and large plastic bins the day before a forecast high fire danger day. Stage buckets at accessible points inside and left at strategic locations around the house. Buckets preferably galvanised – obtain from Mitre 10/Bunnings

• Target the base of the fire, not the top of the flames
• Use a sweeping side-to-side motion while pouring to cover the full area of the spot fire
• Douse and stir: if the fire involves embers or debris, pour water, stir the debris with a stick or shovel, then pour more water. Repeat until the hissing stops completely
• Do not throw the water forcefully at the fire — this scatters burning embers and can spread the fire
• Keep a safe distance — water poured onto very hot material can produce a sudden burst of steam

 

Tips for wet mops

A wet mop is particularly effective for ember management in the areas immediately around the house: gutters, against door frames, under decking, on balconies, near window ledges. It smothers and cools embers precisely, without scattering them the way a pressurised spray can. With filled buckets located around the house – move the mop not the bucket. 

• Use a long-handled mop to maintain safe distance from heat
• Use an old-fashioned cotton mop head — synthetic mop heads may melt
• Thoroughly soak the mop head in a bucket of water
• Douse the flames or press the mop onto smouldering embers and material
• Smother: hold the wet mop flat onto the fire to cut off the air supply
• Stir and cool: use the mop to break apart smouldering debris, mixing it into wet ash or wet soil
• Re-wet the mop and repeat until all smoke and hissing stops

 

Tips for rake, hoe or shovel

A rake, hoe or shovel suppresses fire by removing fuel (starvation) or by breaking up and separating burning material. These tools are most useful for ground-level surface fires — burning leaf litter, dry grass, and debris.

For smothering – shovel or spade

Soil or sand suppresses fire by smothering — cutting off the oxygen supply. This method is most useful when water is unavailable or exhausted. It works on small, outdoor, solid-material fires (wood, bark, leaves). It is not a substitute for water. A children’s sand pit would be ideal.

• Gather a substantial amount of dry soil, sand, or dirt. Dry material works best; slightly moist material also assists cooling
• Use a shovel or spade — not your hands — to scoop and apply
• Pour a thick, complete layer over the entire burning area. Partial coverage leaves openings for the fire to continue
• Stir and mix: use the shovel to mix the soil thoroughly into the ash and burning material. This breaks up hot coals
• If smoke or heat is still present, add more material and repeat
• Do not dump and leave. Soil or sand can make a fire appear extinguished while it continues to smoulder underneath for hours.  Always mix, check, and confirm.
• This method is effective only on small fires. Do not attempt to smother a fire that has spread beyond a small, contained area
• Water is preferable where available — it both cools and smothers

For breaking up fuel – rake or hoe

A rake or hoe suppresses fire by removing fuel (starvation) or by breaking up and separating burning material. These tools are most useful for smaller ground-level surface fires — burning leaf litter, dry grass, and debris.

• Use a metal rake or hoe with sturdy long-handled. Plastic garden rakes melt in fire conditions and add to the fuel load
• Use the rake or hoe to pull burning debris away from structures, fences, and unburned vegetation
• Spread burning material thinly — isolated embers extinguish faster than a concentrated fuel pile
• Follow up with water or soil once material is separated

 

---

Returning to where we started, Dr Kevin Tolhurst advice… 

 

This page has covered the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of ember-proofing, the risks and complexity of living in estate housing, and actions for high fire days. Kevin Tolhurst’s four points remind us that preparation doesn’t stop at the house — it’s collaborating with your neighbours, and knowing your triggers. That’s where the next planning page begins.”

• Get to know your neighbours: share your bushfire plans and find ways to work together. Even 3 or 4 households could do much to lower the fire risk to themselves and their neighbours.
• Stay informed: Work out alternative ways to keep informed of possible fire threats to the area and how to share that information amongst your neighbours. Watch the weather!
• Give your house the best chance of surviving by preparing your property well before the fire season irrespective if you plan to stay and defend or leave.
• Have a bushfire plan: know what you are going to do pre-season; on high fire risk days and days leading up to them; decide if you are going to leave, or stay and defend, and then have a plan to know what to do if circumstances change; know the triggers for when decisions will be made; review your plan regularly. 

 

---

Disclaimer: The information on this page is drawn from publicly available fire science research, expert assessments, and official guidance, and is provided in good faith to help residents understand their situation and make their own informed decisions. It is not official advice from CFA or any emergency service. Every property and household is different — residents should assess their own circumstances before acting.

AFAC (Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council). Bushfires and Community Safety Position (2019, Version 6) is a policy document for fire and emergency service agencies. Quoted here as evidence of the official evidence base underpinning this information. This document (2019, Version 6.0) was scheduled for review April 2024; no updated version located at time of web page publication.

For live emergency information: VicEmergency app, ABC Ballarat 107.9FM, or 1800 226 226. In an emergency, call 000.

---

Sources: Ember-proofing & Zone Zero page

• Dr Kevin Tolhurst AM — Associate Professor, Fire Ecology and Management, University of Melbourne (deceased October 2023). Key actions for Brown Hill residents (video, 2017). BRI Webinar 4, Triggers for Action (2021); BRI Webinar 5, Make Better Decisions About Bushfire Risk in Our Changing Climate (2020) — bushfireresilience.org.au
• Jack Cohen — USDA Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula. Foundational research establishing the Home Ignition Zone concept. Also: Cohen, J.D. (2000), Preventing disaster: home ignitability in the wildland-urban interface, Journal of Forestry. Also: Cohen, J.D. and Leonard, J.E. (2025), Hardening Your Home from Bushfire, BRI Webinar 1, 2025 — bushfireresilience.org.au
• Dr Justin Leonard, CSIRO — Bushfire Urban Design research. Post-fire surveys of 1,800+ houses across Canberra 2003, Sydney 1994, and Ash Wednesday 1983. BRI Webinar series — bushfireresilience.org.au. Also: BRI Webinar 1, Hardening Your Home from Bushfire (2025) — bushfireresilience.org.au
• Blanchi, R. and Leonard, J.E. — Investigation of Bushfire Attack Mechanisms Resulting in House Loss in the ACT Bushfire 2003. CSIRO/Bushfire CRC, April 2005. Prepared for the ACT Coroner’s Inquiry.
• Dr Raphaele Blanchi and Dr Katharine Haynes — BRI Webinar 3, Reducing Risks for Houses and People (2023). Quotes on sheltering and preparation cited on this page — bushfireresilience.org.au
• Dr Danielle Clode — BRI Webinar 4, Triggers for Action (2021). Quotes on leaving early and planning cited on this page — bushfireresilience.org.au
• Dr Rob Gordon OAM — Psychologist and trauma expert. Emotional Preparedness as Part of Bushfire Preparedness (video, Emergency Recovery Victoria, December 2020) — youtube.com/watch?v=H6lQRqvFbSw. Source for hydration and dehydration guidance on this page.
• Joan Webster OAM — Essential Bushfire Safety Tips (3rd edition, 2021), Melliodora Publishing. The most comprehensive and authoritative independent guide to household