August 11, 2014
The paradox of living with the bushfires on the front-line
Preliminary findings from a new study highlight the complexity of dealing with risks posed by bushfires to communities on the front-line in NSW and the ACT.
Researchers at UOW surveyed 65 residents in four fire-prone rural bushland NSW communities – Mount Wilson, Bilpin, Bowen Mountain and Wamboin – to find out how they perceived the value, hazards and risks of living in or near bushland.
They found residents grasped important elements of the bushfire problem but may not be acting to mitigate it.
“We found householders living adjacent to fire-prone bushland were able to accurately recognise hazardous fuels on their doorsteps. However, practical assistance may be required to help them take action to mitigate such hazards in and around their own backyards,” , Director of UOW’s Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires, said.
“Possibilities for explaining inaction include lack of resources (time and money) and a possible underestimation of the likelihood of a fire arriving on one’s doorstep. These require further exploration.”
The preliminary findings will be presented at the on Monday 11 August.
Professor Bradstock said the fact that most residents interviewed for the study were able to accurately identify different levels of fuel hazard, probably reflected direct experience and awareness of the fire problem.
“This outcome contrasted with the findings of some previous studies, which found that a major barrier to fire preparedness was the residents’ inability to perceive hazard,” he said.
“For example, in some Blue Mountains communities, 77 per cent of those we interviewed had experienced fire first hand – either their house was threatened in the past or they had helped defend a neighbour’s house.”
The researchers also developed a risk model to estimate the relative chance of loss (given the hypothetical occurrence of a fire) for the houses in the study.
Using this model, Professor Bradstock said his team estimated higher risk of house loss in one Blue Mountains community compared with the other three communities surveyed.
“This was largely due to the close proximity of houses and higher garden vegetation cover within this location.”
“The findings reiterate the importance of the home ignition zone (within 30 metres of the home) as the critical area for hazard and risk reduction.”
Dr Noreen Krusel, Manager of Research Utilisation at the Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council, the peak body for Australasian fire, land management and emergency services, said community safety educators could use the insights from the study to start conversations with householders on what they needed to safeguard their properties and improve their chances of survival in the event of a bushfire.
Media contact: Elise Pitt, Media & PR Officer, +61 2 4221 3079, +61 422 959 953.