Idea: Discuss bushfires and such *before* summer

[pietillidie]

I say this not because it's a topic I know too much about, but because I can distinctly recall, year after year, that once houses go or people die it becomes taboo to criticise both those who locate in dangerous areas, and those who approve them doing so.

A friend of mine did mention there have been improvements to the related building code, so perhaps others know something about this. On the other hand, the winter looks a decent one, so does that imply a greater risk later on in the season as things dry up?

Anyhow, get in now to avoid the inevitable emotional censorship.

[Brenny]

The thing I find stupid, people who locate themselves in this area... generally those who have been there for decades and who can't afford to move, are told to clear trees and plants around their houses to help avoid the risk of it burning down.

Then some councils actually fine people for removing trees that are more than 1m away from their house...

If I was moving there, I'd be going double brick, steel frames and no plants or trees within a massive distance of the house.

But if you do move into those areas and you don't have insurance... then well... sorry.

[Tannin]

I can't agree, Brenny, that's just wrong, wrong, wrong. If you chose to move in to a place surrounded by bush, then you accept the risk of fire. You do NOT destroy the bush around you. There are plenty of places already cleared, and these places are almost always cheaper and closer to town than the bush blocks. If you don't want to live next to the bush (and accept the risks of your choice), don't friggin' go there! You have no right to destroy precious native vegetation, especially when that vegetation is, in 95% of all cases, the thing that made the area attractive to you in the first place.

You do have the right to buy some place with a fire risk acceptable to you, and there is a vast supply of such places. Nice bush locations fetch high prices because people like good quality natural vegetation. Ugly cleared land on the windswept, empty plains is cheaper and safer.

People who buy bush blocks and the whinge about not being allowed to destroy them are the lowest scum in this once-beautiful state.

[Brenny]

^ I understand that. I agree, I'm not going to, nor do I have any plans to, move into one of those areas.

But more specifically those who already live there are told to remove trees but then get fined for doing it.

I understand where you're coming from, but there are people out there who live in those areas that simply cannot afford to move.

[Tannin]

Very, very few, Brenny. The former state government accepted a recommendation from the Bushfire Royal Commission that they should have a program to buy out people in high-risk areas so that they could move somewhere safer. As I recall, the program has been closed down now by the new government, not on party political grounds but simply because there were hardly any takers and it wasn't though worth perservering with. People whinge and moan, but they like living in the bush.

The "tough" new building regulations that came out of that same inquiry have been watered down too, to the point of near-meaninglessness. Take the idiocy of guttering, just for starters. Gutters are very dangerous in a fire, but you absolutely positively must have them, by law.

[think positive]

The insurance thing pisses me off. Just like a car, you can't afford to insure it you can't afford to drive it.

And first I agreed with Brenny, and then I agreed with tannin.

My sisters live in the middle of a forest, they are on 60 acres, half bush, half cleared, the house is on the cleared bit but surrounded by a few fruit trees, and too much long grass. You have to be sensible.

But people also need to understand the danger, and get out well before they NEED to. Dying for your boat is just stupid. I always remember that guy, the one that went back for his boat.

[Brenny]

I actually agree with all 3 of you on everything you have all said.

[stui magpie]

Usually the argument that comes out around bush fire season is about ground fuel and lack of controlled preventative burning.

[Skids]

I did a job for this artist fella who lives in thick bush just out of Perth. We ran 50mm galv pipe all around his property and set up big knocker sprinklers around the perimeter, tee'd off and ran more sprinkler lines fitted to the roof of his house and shed. All hooked up to a diesel pump at his dam. Whack that baby on and nothing is gunna burn there.

[Tannin]

Bloke has dam with water in it? Lucky man! All ours are verging on empty, and the summer hasn't even started yet. Not looking good.

[Pi]

[stui magpie]

I like that curved house idea. I'd like the idea of building the house of of curved concrete and burying it with dirt

[Tannin]

[3.14159]

[Tannin]

There isn't any tank overflow, Three, not this year. Your place must be much the same. Year to date, we are sitting on close to 50% of average rainfall, and a good chance of an el nino year coming up. Might be something to think about another year though, but it would need a pump as it would have to go uphill.

I'm in favour of a little earthworking to improve the flow into the top dam - there is an area where the rainwater just sits and makes the soil sour, I reckon that could be drained into the dam with a little re-sculpturing of the countours and an agi drain under the driveway, but I don't have the go-ahead from management on that job yet. I could do it in a weekend.