Bushfire: Retrofitting Rural and Urban Fringe Structures—Implications of Current Engineering Data

Since the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in which 173 lives were lost, two-thirds of whom died their homes, question what a home prepared for bushfire looks like has been repeatedly raised. The 2019/2020 fires saw us not much further advanced. This paper seeks to consolidate is known about behavior, its influence upon structures, and, through this data, infer improved standards practice retrofitting rural and urban fringe homes. In particular, prevention ember smoke incursion: data suggesting prior as main mechanism destruction; latter high risk sheltering occupant health. article framed around comprehensive literature review, author’s own experiences observations from fire impacted structures Victoria’s northeast. article’s import lies demonstrating how embers may enter homes otherwise seen be appropriately sealed fire’s approach. Included findings are developed hypotheses based on thermal expansion, pressure differentials backdraft; offering defined paths towards future research. addition, work provides practical advice mitigating identified issues using retrofit practices experience tradesperson building designer.