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Brown Hill FireAware Network
Prep before plan: Home Ignition Zone & Zone Zero (PART 2)
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.
This is Part 2 for Prep before Plan. It covers the practical, on-the-ground work — assessing your property zone by zone, the priority ember-proofing actions, seasonal maintenance, and what to do when a high fire danger day actually arrives. For the fire science and Home Ignition Zone concepts this is built on, see Prep before Plan (Part 1).
What you will find on this page:
SECTION 2
PREPARING: Ember-proofing your home zone by zone
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); CFA information for garden landscaping ideas
- Protect your deck from bushfire (video)
Step 1 Vulnerabilities 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 burning 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)
Bare Bones’ Tubs & Kits (Emergency Kits)
- TUB 1: Off-Site Tub
- TUB 2: Protective Gear Tub
- KIT 3: Shelter Kit
- KIT 4: Ember Kit
- KIT 5: Pocket Kit
Bare Bones Tubs & Kits Checklist to download
Step 3: Actions for ember-proofing and clearing Zone Zero on a seasonal basis
Step 3: Seasonal House & Yard Action Checklist to download
SECTION 3
A SCENARIO: High Fire Day has arrived
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;
- Managing bushfire smoke entering the house: when fire is in your area; when smoke is over your house or ash starts to fall;
- 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
Returning to where we started, Dr Kevin Tolhurst advice…
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 Vulnerability Assessment Checklist to download:
Step1 Vulnerability House & Yard Assessment Checklist V2
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. Skylight material are they fibreglass-reinforced or polycarbonate? Fibreglass is highly ignitable and can carry fire into the roof cavity; polycarbonate melts/droops but doesn’t burn in situ.
- 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.
The home and the first 0–5 feet around the structure, has the greatest impact on your risk and should be your starting point for enhancing wildfire protection. This area is critical due to the primary source of how homes ignite—embers and small surface flames. The structure needs to be kept in good repair (ember-proofed); The 0–5 foot space around the structure and attachments such as decks should also be free of things that can burn.
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
While the 0–5 foot zone focuses on eliminating combustible material, this area is all about spacing and maintenance, making sure there isn’t continuous vegetation all around the home. It uses landscaping (creating clumps or little islands with plants) and breaks (areas of noncombustible materials such as dirt, cement, or rock) to help influence and decrease fire behavior.
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
If your property boundary is greater than 10 metres – this is called the Extended Zone 2. This area allows for a little more flexibility when it comes to management as the goal isn’t to eliminate fire, but rather to interrupt fire’s path and keep flames smaller and on the ground, reducing intensity
If your property extends into this zone, a few important steps you can take concerning mature trees, include:
- Selectively remove evergreen trees to create at least 3 metres of horizontal space between the single or grouped tree crowns.
- Remove all branches to a height of 2 metres from the ground.
- Regularly clean up accumulations of fallen branches, dry grass, and needles to eliminate potential surface fuels.
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.”
CFA information for garden landscaping ideas – the same concepts but remember to apply the HIZ Zone Zero & Zone 1 distances
- CFA Suburban Garden – Landscaping for Bushfire: Garden Design & Plant Selection
- CFA Landscaping for Bushfire – Garden Design and Plant Selection
- CFA Designing your garden for bushfire (video) for rural properties – applicable for bush blocks in Brown Hill
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.
Evaporative Air Conditioner (cooler) filter pads can ignite if dry: cellulose filter pads are combustible; fit a non-combustible ember screen before fire season.
Do you have a ducted air conditioning system with a fresh air intake? You need to check your manual and contact the manufacturer/installer and obtain their advice about how such a system works in a bushfire scenario and how to ember-proof it.
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
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
Bare Bones’ Tubs & Kits (Emergency Kits)
Ask any bushfire survivor what they left with, and the answer is almost always the same: nothing but the clothes they stand in, or stuff that means nothing to them. Not because they didn’t care enough to plan, but because there is no plan in the moment itself. Adrenaline strips out the ability to think a list through. People run from room to room and grab whatever their eye lands on, then stand in the driveway holding it and wondering why.
The way around this isn’t a better list to remember under pressure. It’s removing the moment of choosing altogether. Everything that matters is decided and packed at the start of the season, while you’re calm — not during a heatwave, not with smoke on the horizon. From that point on, there’s nothing left to think about.
This list is deliberately the bare minimum, stripped back, not a generic disaster-preparedness list built for floods, cyclones or days of isolation. If you want the fuller, standard emergency kit checklists (food supplies, multi-day water), CFA, CFS and Red Cross all publish these, and they’re worth a look — but for most Brown Hill residents, minutes from the centre of Ballarat, that’s more than the situation may call for. What follows is what matters, and add to the list as you apply it to your own households situation.
There are 5 tubs/kits:
TUB 1: Off-Site Tub — packed at the start of the season, delivered off-site when a heatwave is forecast
This is both the “memory” tub and the “official docs” tub. This one tub can be a step to putting a life back together. At the start of the season choose just a few precious items that hold special memories: jewellery with meaning, a handwritten letter, a small memento, a child’s artwork, something that belonged to someone no longer here. Include your photos on a USB stick, or portable hard drive.
They are tokens, not everything you cherish. Packing this tub means acknowledging, in advance, that you might come home to nothing else. That’s not pessimism, it’s the same emotional acceptance Dr Rob Gordon’s work points to: people who have genuinely accepted the house might not survive make clearer decisions than those still trying to protect the idea that it will.
Added to this tub are your “official docs”, scanned and added to a USB stick, such as: copies of driver’s licence/photo ID; bank details; passport; will; insurance papers; rates & water rates details; medical prescriptions; medical records; house and contents – photos of every room; house plans; property titles; etc. Throw in a spare phone charger as well. Include hard copies if you wish.
Pack it once, at the beginning of the season, then hand it to a trusted friend or family member outside the risk area whenever a run of hot, dry, windy days are coming. Pick it up once the risk has passed. Repeat as many times as the season requires — keep the tub small enough that it’s no imposition on whoever is minding it for you. Then each season update the tub and repeat. If you are new to Brown Hill and friends and family live further away, maybe consider a small storage unit. Both “Secure It Self Storage” and “Storage King” in Wendouree offer a 1m X 1m “locker” arrangement.
TUB 2: Protective Gear Tub — packed at the start of the season, stays home, worn on the day
Always packed, always in the same place. Check it early each season, to see if it still fits. If it has been stored in the garage or shed move it inside to a handy cupboard somewhere convenient when a heatwave is forecast. Put it on when there’s fire in the area, or when you’re about to leave. Review the “What is protective clothing” section and ensure all items are serviceable e.g. new masks obtained. All members of the household need to have their own kit of protective clothing. Also ensure that any woollen blankets are kept in good order and accessible.
KIT 3: Shelter Kit – sourced at the start of the season, stays home, accessed when you can’t leave
These items are for helping you to get through the hours you’re sheltering in place, if power and water fail. The list is kept modest, deliberately — this is for hours, not days, this close to Ballarat.
- Water and food that needs no preparation guards against dehydration and a blood-sugar crash (follow the guidelines in this link)— both of which can cloud judgement exactly when clear thinking matters most. Remember to drink water/fruit juice regularly to avoid dehydration. Drinking and eating — do it on a schedule, not on feeling.
- 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)
- Don’t rely on tap water as pressure can be severely compromised. Ensure you have filled all available containers on a high fire day: bath, laundry troughs, buckets – for both drinking water and extinguishing small fires inside (using a wet cotton mop).
- Non-perishable food: such as baked beans, tinned tuna or salmon, canned fruits (ring-pull or ensure you have amanual can opener); protein or energy bars, dried fruit and nuts; crackers and spreads. It might pay to check the expiration dates of your food each year. Fruit juice and juicy fruits can assist with dehydration. (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)
- Ensure all phones and rechargable items are fully charged – morning and evening; spare batteries, especially for the radio; consider a portable charger.
- A first aid kit to cover the basics. In an emergency, a well-stocked first aid kit can mean the difference between a manageable situation and a crisis. Ensure that your first aid kit is checked and restocked at the beginning of each season.Your kit should contain essentials such as bandages, dressings, saline solution for eye irrigation, and burn dressings.
- A wool blanket or thermal blanket helps to shield against radiant heat and embers (if you need to leave an untenable house) , while P2 face masks with valves, reduce exposure to smoke. Goggles to protect eyes, make sure they fit properly and manage any fogging. Pain relief medication and a first aid manual are also essential.
- If you have asthma or another respiratory condition, keep a spare inhaler and necessary medications in your first aid kit. Access to pharmacies or medical care may be limited in a bushfire, so having these essentials on hand is lifesaving.
- For more details access this link: First Aid Tips: What to do in a bushfire: Download and print the following St John’s Fact Sheets and keep with your first aid kit: Smoke & embers in your eyes; Asthma emergency; Heat-induced illness;
- Lighting when the power fails: A battery radio (ABC Ballarat 107.9FM) keeps you informed without power. A camping lantern lights the room hands-free if the power’s out; a head torch does the same for checking the roof space or patrolling outside. Assorted house torches – either battery or wind-up.
KIT 4: Ember Kit – assembled at the start of the season, stays home
Go through the “Tools and Equipment for Active Shelterers” thoroughly and gather together the basic equipment suggested: garden hose/s; buckets (metal is best) and anything else that will hold water; cotton mops; rakes, hoe or shovels; water sprayers; ladders, downpipe or gutter plugs.
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.
KIT 5: The Pocket Kit — what you actually carry out
By the time you reach this point, the tub has already gone, the gear is already on. You have already been using the Shelter Kit. If you can no longer stay in the house and need to exit, what’s left fits in the pockets of your protective clothing, plus two items you’ll carry in hand: phone and charger; car key/house keys; wallet and cash; glasses; watch; water bottle; woollen blanket; medications if required for the day. Also when leaving remember your mask, goggles, gloves and hat.
Here is your Tub/Kit Checklist to download:
Bare Bones Tubs & Kits Checklist
Step 3: Action timeline for ember-proofing and clearing Zone Zero/Zone 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:
Step 3 Seasonal House & Yard Action Checklist V2
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 that could still be done before this bushfire season.
- Dispose of unnecessary clutter. Even if not combustible themselves they can still collect debris, which can burn, and trap 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, large play equipment
- 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 Bare Bones Tubs & Kits: Off-Site Tub; Protective Gear Tub; Shelter Kit; Ember Kit & Pocket Kit.
- 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. Revisit the section: LEAVE EARLY: But how do you do that?
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 Off-Site Tub has already been delivered safely outside the risk area; your Protective Gear Tub is checked and accessible; your Shelter Kit has been sourced and is close at hand; your Ember Kit has been assembled; your Pocket Kit is on your person or on the kitchen bench.
- 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;
- Your car has a full tank, and facing the street.
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;
- Your car is ready to go;
- 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. 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 and it 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
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.
- 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 – inside and out. 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.
Managing bushfire smoke entering the house
An unexpected smoke alarm activating during a fire event is more common than most residents realise. The noise, on top of everything else happening, can be a distracting and unsettling addition to an already stressful situation. The following are a few points to consider, and include in your plan:
- Close up the house: Close all windows and doors, place wet towels or blankets (wool or cotton) around window and door edges to help stop smoke and embers getting in;
- Keep exit door openings brief: when going in and out, especially for suppression activity;
- Evaporative Air Conditioner (cooler) filter pads can ignite if dry: cellulose filter pads are combustible; fit a non-combustible ember screen before fire season;
- Switch the Evaporative Air Conditioner to recycle/recirculate mode, as it could otherwise draw in smoke from outside, or turn off;
- Do you have a ducted air conditioning system with a fresh air intake? This should also be switched off or set to recirculate but you need to check your manual and contact the manufacturer/installer, as this varies by system, and obtain their advice;
When smoke is over your house or ash starts to fall:
- If Evaporative Air Conditioner can run water over the filter with the fan turned off, continue to do so; otherwise turn it off;
- If a smoke alarm activates and it’s smoke haze, not an internal fire: mute it (using broom handle if out of reach); if smoke does not clear, expect to repeat roughly every 10 minutes; check for real ignitions once muted, don’t assume it is a false alarm;
- Before fire season — locate and test your alarm’s mute button so it’s not new to you on the day; on fire day make sure a broom is close by if/when alarm activates.
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
- Sturdy ladders for checking ceiling space, blocking gutters, and checking roof for ember build-up. NOT for climbing on roofs.
- Wool or cotton blankets and towels. When wet they can be used internally to seal gaps around windows and doors to stop smoke entering.
- Downpipe or gutter plugs: To fill your gutters with water you will need a way to block the downpipes.
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 – also sturdy plastic work buckets.
- 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. Strategically place buckets around perimeter of house and keep full. – move hoses and the mops TO buckets.
- 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