The spectre of bushfires is ever-present as we swing into drier weather. With a warming climate, these fiery disasters are encroaching more and more on our urban and rural landscapes. They’re threatening our homes, our hard earned assets, and our loved ones. Firebreaks are critical measures to protect our homes. But firebreak rules are convoluted and vary from state to state across Australia. So in this article we explain how firebreaks help tame the impacts of bushfire, how to make a firebreak to protect your home, and how wide a firebreak needs to be in your state. Let’s get you full bottle on bushfire prevention 101: firebreaks.

Demystifying fires

Bushfires are an integral part of Australia’s ecosystem, arising when dry vegetation, hot weather, and wind converge, forming a perilous combination. Particularly when El Nino weather patterns arrive. In Australian summers, a mere spark can set off a volatile mixture of smoke and flames, rapidly escalating into a roaring blaze.

Grasping the science behind fires is key to understanding their behavior and putting in place effective prevention strategies. Like firebreaks.

So what contributes to the intensity and spread of bushfires and grassfires?

The fuel load; the quantity of available vegetation or grass, for one.

Dry and highly combustible vegetation, like grass and shrubs, can ignite easily and cause it to run ‘like the wind’. Did you know that grassfires can travel 25 kilometres an hour – too fast for any of us to outrun. And that they often follow floods.

Weather conditions also determine bushfire behavior.

A combination of hot, dry weather and strong winds creates ideal conditions for a fire to spread swiftly. Winds not only fan the flames but also transport burning embers, which can travel kilometers and ignite new fires along their path.

The shape of the land also influences bushfire behavior.

Here’s another mind boggling fire fact for you (the things you learn about in an Environmental Management degree….)

Fires travel faster uphill. 🤯

Steep slopes can accelerate the fire’s spread as it moves uphill. Walleys can channel the fire, intensifying it and making it harder to control. Understanding these factors is crucial to understanding a little about the fire’s behavior.

So we can use this knowledge to help devise effective containment and extinguishment strategies. Firebreaks in particular.

The Perils of Bushfires

Bushfires pose grave threats to life, property, and the environment. Their intense heat and ferocious flames can quickly engulf buildings and vegetation, leaving a trail of destruction. Wind-carried embers can travel great distances, igniting new fires along their path. Dense smoke can impair visibility, hampering evacuation efforts. Moreover, the toxic gases released during combustion pose health risks.

The intense heat generated during a bushfire can cause structures to collapse, endangering those trapped inside. Radiant heat from the flames can also ignite nearby buildings, triggering a domino effect of destruction.

The loss of property has enduring impacts on individuals and communities, requiging extensive recovery efforts. Just ask anyone caught up in the Australian Black Summer Bushfires in 2019-20.

Mostly, bushfires are bloody terrifying.

The lava red glow of the daytime sky across Canberra as bushfires raged into the suburbs in 2003, is an image I’ll never forget. I can still hear the spine tingling emergency warning across televisions the day Canberra burned. And I didn’t even live on the fringe of the city. I wasn’t even in the fire’s direct path.

But like everyone else in Canberra that day, I did swallow enough smokey air to be a pack a day smoker. And we all know wildfire smoke is best avoided for the severe health repercussions.

They’re fierce natural disasters that when they take root, cannot be tamed by the mite of our firefighting heros.

And this is exactly why we all need to do our bit every bushfire season to protect our homes from them.

The Science of Firebreaks

What is a Firebreak?

A firebreak is a designated area that serves as a barrier between the uncontrolled spread of a bushfire and your property. It is also called a buffer zone, designed to prevent the fire from reaching your home by eliminating readily available fuel sources.

Firebreaks or buffer zones are commonly deployed in rural and regional Australia. But with fires moving closer and closer to our urban outskirts, firebreaks are increasingly something urban dwelling Australians living on the fringes of major cities and towns need to know about.

Properly implemented firebreaks can hinder a fire’s progress and create safe zones for firefighters, shielding against the approaching blaze.

Firebreaks are a critical defense mechanism in protecting your property from the devastating effects of a bushfire or grassfire.

By creating a physical separation between the fire and your home, you can minimize the risk of the fire reaching your property and causing widespread damage.

Firebreaks are typically created by clearing vegetation and other combustible materials, forming a gap that acts as a barrier to the fire’s advance.

Firebreaks are strategically planned and implemented to maximize their effectiveness. They are often positioned to interrupt the fire’s flow, forcing it to change direction or lose intensity. This disruption in the fire’s path can significantly reduce the risk to your property and provide a safer environment for firefighters.

How does a firebreak work?

How does a firebreak help to stop a fire?

Firebreaks are instrumental in bushfire prevention and home protection. By disrupting the fire’s flow, they provide a vital defense line. Constructing firebreaks lowers the intensity of the approaching fire, enhancing your chances of defending your property. They also assist firefighters by limiting the fire’s spread, aiding containment efforts.

One of the key advantages of firebreaks is their ability to decelerate a bushfire’s progress. By creating a barrier of cleared land, firebreaks act as a buffer zone, reducing the available fuel for the fire. This reduction in fuel can significantly decrease the fire’s intensity, making it easier to control and extinguish.

Besides preventing bushfires’ spread, firebreaks also provide safe zones for firefighters. These designated areas allow firefighters to set up equipment, establish command centers, and coordinate their efforts more effectively.

By creating safe zones, firebreaks allow firefighters to work more efficiently and minimize the their own risks while combating the very flames approaching your home.

When constructing firebreaks, various factors, such as vegetation type, topography, and prevailing wind patterns, are important. These factors help determine the optimal location and design of the firebreaks to ensure their effectiveness in preventing bushfires’ spread.

Regular upkeep of firebreaks is also essential to ensure they stay effective over time.

4 Firebreak Facts to whet your whistle

Did you know?

1. Firebreaks combat against 2 of the 3 main ways fire destroys your home – ember attack and flames. They make it harder for both to penetrate into your property and your home.
2. It’s your responsibility to manage and maintain firebreaks on your own property.
3. Firebreaks are a legal requirement in certain states and areas of Australia, including the NT and QLD. If you don’t have one in place, you can be issued an infringement notice and fined.
4. Firebreaks should sit within your property boundary. You should also maintain a firebreak directly around your home.

Creating a firebreak

You don’t need to live in a bushfire prone zone these days to take proactive measures to protect your home and loved ones. Preparing your property for bushfires and devising a well-thought-out bushfire evacuation plan are simple steps we should all take, no matter where we live.

Where is your property vulnerable?

Before constructing a firebreak, assess your property’s vulnerability to fires. Take a walk around your land and carefully observe potential fuel sources. Look for dry grass, fallen leaves, or flammable materials near your home that could easily ignite in the event of a fire.

Once you’ve identified these hazards, it’s important to take immediate action. Clearing these potential fuel sources will reduce the risk of fire spreading from your land or garden to your home.

Do you nee a firebreak at your home?

Make this decision for yourself based on your bushfire risk. Victoria has some good information on how to determine this, no matter where you live.

In a nutshell, if you live in any of these types of areas, you are exposed to bushfire risk. And you should consider creating fuel breaks (or firebreaks) around your property and around your home, in most of these types of areas.

The best advice we can give you is don’t wait to be told what to do to spare your home from a fire. Instead, prepare your property so that you feel safest.

One thing to be cautious about as you do this is vegetation and tree clearing. In some states, you need a permit to do this for certain vegetation.

How to Make a Firebreak: step by step

Where to make a firebreak

Firebreaks are usually built along the inside perimeter of your property boundary. They also feature directly around any infrastructure on your property. Like your house, shed, and garage.

What tools do you need to make a firebreak?

Firebreaks are about removing fuel loads – living and dead. Some useful items to do this are:

• shovel,
• rake,
• chainsaw,
• handsaw,
• garden shears,
• hedge trimmer,
• measuring tape,
• string line,
• gloves,
• goggles, and
• masks.

8 steps to Building a Firebreak around your boundary perimeter

1. Mark out the area inside your property boundary. Use the requirements in your state for how wide a firebreak should be. More on this question below…
2. Clear the designated area by removing all vegetation and debris that can act as fuel for the fire.
3. Remove any overhanging branches or limbs that could facilitate the fire spreading across the firebreak.
4. Create a level surface by flattening the ground and removing any uneven terrain or obstacles. This is for firefighter access.
5. Consider applying a layer of fire-resistant geotextile along the firebreak. This fabric can significantly reduce the spread of fire, acting as an additional barrier.
6. Install a layer of gravel along the firebreak. These materials can further impede the fire’s progress by reducing available fuel and preventing new growth.
7. Regularly assess the condition of the firebreak, ensuring there are no breaches or potential fuel sources.
8. Keep a supply of water nearby -like a firefighting tank or hose – to enhance firebreak effectiveness during emergencies.

How to make a firebreak directly around your home

There are tonnes of ways you might look at reducing the fuel load directly around your home, to make a secondary firebreak. Here are 9 landscape and gardening steps to consider:

1. Mow grass around your home to less than 10 cm high.
2. Remove overhanging branches within 10m of your home.
3. Remove vegetation from underneath trees within 30 to 50m of your home.
4. Create separation between trees and shrubs.
5. Remove bushes or large shrubs from directly under windows
6. Use pebbles as ground cover within the fire break, not mulch.
7. Rake up and remove leaves, branches, twigs – any fire load.
8. Move flammable materials out of the firebreak (which includes your verandas and patios) – furniture, gas bottles, woodpiles etc.
9. Seal your subfloor area so that embers can’t get in and burn from beneath you. Use fire resistant steel mesh or steel sheeting.

Regular Inspection and Upkeep

After constructing the firebreak, regular inspection and maintenance are vital to its ongoing effectiveness. Remove any encroaching vegetation, fallen debris, or dead plants that could pose a fire risk. Regularly inspect and maintain the firebreak at the start of and during the bushfire season.

Consult with local fire authorities to stay informed about firebreak guidelines and regulations.

How wide does a firebreak need to be?

Different states say different things when it comes to how wide a firebreak needs to be. On researching this across Australia, we’re left wondering government could make firebreak requirements any more complicated…

Here’s our attempt to clear the air on firebreak rules near you:

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Our NT firefighters say a fire break around your property boundary should be at least 4 meters wide, with no vegetation higher than 500mm within the firebreak.

You should also have a firebreak around your home directly that is 8 meters wide. Well maintained lawns and gardens are acceptable in this 8 meter area.

Also, gamba grass requires a firebreak of 15 meters from the boundary of your property. It’s highly flammable stuff!

QUEENSLAND

In Queensland things are not as straight forward. The Vegetation Management Act says a fire break to protect infrastructure (including your home) can be a distance 1.5 times the height of the highest tree or 20 meters maximum. But a fire management line along your property boundary is to be 10 meters wide. But it seems to apply to rural landowners.

Clear as mud.

NEW SOUTH WALES

In New South Wales firebreaks around property boundaries can be 25 meters, according to new rules since the Black Summer Bushfires. But again, this is for rural zoned land that falls within a specific a Boundary Clearing Area.

We couldn’t find requirements for properties outside the rural zone. But then, you can still be at risk outside the rural zone. So much so that NSW has a bushfire household assessment tool. You can put your address in and see the bushfire risk of your home using this tool.

VICTORIA

Ever heard about the 10/30 rule or the 10/50 rule?

The 10/30 rule means you can clear trees and branches up to 10 meters from your house, and other vegetation up to 30 meters – without a permit. The 10/50 rule applies the same way.

And then there’s The Fence Line Rule…

• The Fence Line Rule applies to fences built before September 10, 2009.
• The rule means you can clear away plants and bushes up to 4 meters wide on both sides of a fence.
• But, if one side of the fence already has a cleared space that’s 4 meters or wider, then you can only clear up to 1 meter on the other side.

The 10m, 30m and Fence Line rules apply to homes in a designated bushfire prone area under the Building Act 1993. The 50m rule applies to areas in a Bushfire Management Overlay.

To find out whether any of these rules impact your home, use the VicPlan map:

1. Enter your home address in the search bar.
2. Click on ‘Layers’ in the top left menu bar.
3. Scroll down and click on the “+” sign next to ‘Bushfire’
4. Tick the boxes for ‘BMO – Bushfire Management Overlay’ and ‘BPA – Bushfire Prone Areas’
5. Check the map and colours that apply to your property.

TASMANIA

The first thing to say about Tassie is that they have a firebreak calculator. Kudos! This helps simplify and customise how wide your firebreak needs to be.

On the downside, Tasmania’s Guidelines for Fuel Breaks is extremely technical, convoluted and basically impenetrable for the average person. They seem to be targeted at “Fire Managers”, rather than home-owners.

From what we could work out there are 2 classes of firebreaks in Tasmania – ‘Management’ and ‘Protective’. Protective firebreaks are wider – you can select class when you use their tool.

• A management fuel break is where a bushfire fuel management regime is planned directly next to the fuel break, and where fuel management will extend for a distance greater than 100 metres from the edge of the fuel break.
• A protective fuel break should be selected where there is no, or limited, planned bushfire fuel management beyond the fuel break

Filling in the firebreak class and a few other details about vegetation and landscape around your home will get your to a calculation of how wide your firebreak needs to be. Voila!

Recap

Protecting your home and loved ones from the ravages of bushfires is a responsibility we all have. And that’s not easy when it comes to firebreaks. Complex requirements from state to state and between local areas make it a mine field to work out what to do. So here, we’ve not only shared how to make a firebreak on your boundary and around your home. We’ve also delved state by state into how wide your firebreak needs to be. By following these guidelines year-round, you can reduce the risks of bushfires to your home and family. And that’s valuable peace of mind whenever bushfire season ticks around.