Bushfire Safety Awareness

Bushfire Safety Awareness The purpose of this page is to provide scientifically verified bushfire safety information for those Hemisphere and probably the world.

Joan Webster OAM's bushfire decades of safety work for the public is acclaimed by bushfire and emergency authorities throughout Australia and overseas. Her groundbreaking The Complete Australian Bushfire Book has been used in the training of fire authority officers. Much of what is now standard bushfire safety advice was originally devised by her. Her survey of community bushfire refuges in Vict

oria's Dandenong Ranges in 1988 led to changes in official policy and the construction of the first purpose-built school bushfire refuge at Sassafras. Householders, bushfire authorities and firefighters have acclaimed her work and books as providing the ability to save lives, homes and stress. Photo of the Currowan fire approaching Kangaroo Valley, NSW, January 4, 2020 (c ) Matthew Kelly.

‘Essential Bushfire Safety Tips was essential reading and definitely saved lives and property in Kangaroo Valley on January 4, 2020. Kangaroo Valley is now, arguably, the best example of a prepared community. Much of our preparedness was on account of your book Essential Bushfire Safety Tips and talking to you. You have contributed so much, not only to the Valley but to the nation. This comes from us, from the heart.’
-Matthew Gray Chairman, Community Bushfire Planning Committee, Kangaroo Valley, NSW.

‘I am alive today because I read Essential Bushfire Safety Tips so many times in the fortnight leading to Black Saturday, when I defended my neighbour's house at Gormandale, Victoria, in 2009.’

'Your advice has, and will, save lives. I gave my daughter a copy of your book before the Kilmore East fires, 2009, and they saved their own place and the house behind them.' - Antoinette Birkenbeil, Chewton Bushlands, Victoria.

'Like all Joan Webster OAM's information published, to know these facts and act on them will save your life and the lives of others around you, including animals, if you're caught in the grasp of a fire' - DART (Disaster Animal Response Team Australia).

'An expression of gratitude for all you have done to help people deal with fire danger. Your efforts have saved many lives already and your publications have become classics that will continue to help us while the threat of death by fire escalates. Your books are the most complete and authoritative in the S. With so many "bad" things happening in the world, I congratulate you for your contribution to the "good" side'. - Dr Barry Richardson, Phd., Jeeralang Junction via Churchill, Victoria, Founder of FireAway.

Many thanks to https://www.facebook.com/MelliodoraHepburnPermaculture, the Bushfire Safety Primer is now free to downloa...
01/02/2026

Many thanks to https://www.facebook.com/MelliodoraHepburnPermaculture, the Bushfire Safety Primer is now free to download.
If you have the slightest concern about bushfire affecting your property, print it out and stick it on your fridge! The Primer is the preface to Joan Webster’s Essential Bushfire Safety Tips, which brings a message of hope and empowerment: that with appropriate knowledge, preparation and awareness, towns, homes and people can survive wildfires. We hope that you, your family and your home stays safe this fire season. Download the primer here: https://holmgren.website/bushfire-free-download" https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1D6rn4msZm/

The Bushfire Safety Primer is now free to download.

If you have the slightest concern about bushfire affecting your property, print it out and stick it on your fridge!

The Primer is the preface to Joan Webster’s Essential Bushfire Safety Tips, which brings a message of hope and empowerment: that with appropriate knowledge, preparation and awareness, towns, homes and people can survive wildfires.

We hope that you, your family and your home stays safe this fire season.

Download the primer here: https://holmgren.website/bushfire-free-download

05/01/2026

Always timely to refresh and share the knowledge.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AN EMBER IS BLOWN INSIDE A HOUSE
What happens when an ember is blown inside a house, it ignites some item, smoulders and flares. It may ignite curtains and send flames quickly to the ceiling.
Or land on and ignite carpets, furniture, bedding, or papers. Flames spreads through furniture and furnishings, clothes and kitchen contents, papers and plastics and fly-sprays and volatile cleaning fluids. Bottles explode The intense heat generated as all this burns melts fridges and washing machines. Fire moves on through the house and structure until only ash and twisted metal remain.
Closing internal doors is a safety precaution that can prevent such spread.
When embers enter the roof/ceiling space, they ignite highly flammable dust which eventually burn rafters. Fire here grows slowly if it has been cleaned and insulated and can take hours to develop. Or quickly if the space contains stored goods, birds’ nests, or is very dusty. Heat then builds until flammable gases are produced that lift off the roof and the ceiling collapses.
This is why it is so dangerous to shelter in an inner room, and necessary to have easy access to an exit door.
DANGEROUS FURNISHING MATERIALS:
Cotton, rayon, linen, and acrylic; the plastic coating of fibreglass fabrics; nylon, terylene, dacron and other synthetics; polyurethane foam padding; synthetic carpets. Smouldering wall linings, fittings and bench tops can give off lethally toxic gases.
PROTECTIVE FURNISHING MATERIALS:
Pure, untreated, heavy quality wool; natural leather; good quality vinyl; good quality lino; tiles and slate floors.
EMBERS CAN ALSO
• lodge in cracks in timber walls and infiltrate through vents, smouldering until a flame from them flares up the wall cavity.
• Blow under the house. If this has not been cleaned out, they burn dry grass or stored goods and spread fire to floorboards and frame.
• Land on and ignite doormats, sending sparks under the door.
• Land in and ignite fibrous hanging baskets, sending flames to the eaves.
• Lodge in rough gaps between deck timbers.
• Catch in creepers on walls and pergolas, endangering the timber beneath them.
This is why pre-bushfire ember proofing of a house gives it the best chance of surviving a bushfire even if no-one is there to protect it.

The next few days are predicted to bring severe bushfire weather.DON’T WAIT to prepare for a bushfire to appear. NOW is ...
29/11/2025

The next few days are predicted to bring severe bushfire weather.DON’T WAIT to prepare for a bushfire to appear. NOW is the time to put your plan into action: whether it is to evacuate, defend or simply shelter. If your plan is to evacuate, you should be preparing now to leave this evening.
Evacuation, home protection and sheltering in place each have their own perils. Either choice can lead to injury, death or survival. Thorough knowledge and careful preparation are imperative for safety.
THE ABILITY TO EVACUATE SAFELY DEPENDS ON:
• Severity of weather conditions, particularly of air dryness and wind speed.
• Multiplicity and distribution of fires burning throughout your greater region or state.
• Severity of ember shower and speed of any fire in your area.
• Having protective clothing, a pure wool blanket and water flask.
• Leaving well before a fire starts in your area or is likely to start near your route.
• Sufficient advance packing and safe storage of precious possessions.
• Knowing where to go for refuge, whether community shelter or private house.
• The ability to get there safely.
• A reliable car, and thorough knowledge of how to shelter safely in it.
THE ABILITY TO PROTECT YOUR HOUSE SAFELY DEPENDS ON:
• Its distance from volatile vegetation in forest or garden.
• Its distance from neighbours’ buildings.
• Thorough preparation of grounds by plant management and clearance of hazards.
• Thorough preparation of house and outbuildings to minimise ember entry.
• Frequent practice of bushfire emergency plans.
• Protective clothing, a pure wool blanket and water flask.
• Enough physical, mental and emotional strength and determination.
• Sufficient and suitable fire extinguishing facilities.
• Thorough knowledge of how to shelter safely if this becomes necessary.
THE ABILITY TO SHELTER SAFELY DEPENDS ON:
• A shelter location that gives protection from radiant heat, smoke and toxic fumes.
• In-house shelter being near a door that leads to a non-hazardous outside area.
• Ability to check safely what stage the fire has reached.
• Protective clothing, a pure wool blanket and water flask.
• Exiting when flames have died down and flammable shrubs/grass are black.
• Any outside shelter site being distanced from flammable vegetation.
STAY/GO DATA
• During most bushfire threats, well-prepared homes can provide safe shelter.
• Stayers who have died have usually not known how to do so safely.
• Most well-prepared and knowledgeable people can safely defend their homes.
• The house survival rate more than doubles when someone is present.
• Early-enough and careful evacuation may provide personal safety.
• But leaves your house vulnerable. Increased losses are almost inevitable.
• Most deaths occur while evacuating through embers, flames or smoke.
• The close second highest is when people are outside and not protectively clothed.
• The third highest is when people shelter inside too far from an exit.
EXCERPTED FROM the CFA endorsed ready reference Essential Bushfire Safety Tips (‘A book that certainly could help save lives within the community’)
To be safe from bushfires you need to start preparations early.
To prepare, you need the best possible information.
Essential Bushfire Safety Tips provides this.Feel free to also share your tips here. READERS’ COMMENTS:
• ‘Your tireless efforts have been the only reliable safety advice for some time.’ - N P Cheney PSM FIFA, former Head of CSIRO Bushfire Behaviour and Management.
• ‘Essential Bushfire Safety Tips is truly an outstanding achievement.’ - Steven Warrington, Former Chief Officer Country Fire Authority, Victoria
- ‘Kangaroo Valley is arguably the best example of a prepared community. Much of this on account of Essential Bushfire Safety Tips. This book definitely saved lives and property in Kangaroo Valley on January 4, 2020.’ - Matthew Gray, Chairman, Community Bushfire Planning Committee, Kangaroo Valley, NSW.
• ‘I am alive today because I read Essential Bushfire Safety Tips’ – Robyn Mitchell, Woombah, NSW, 2020.
ESSENTIAL BUSHFIRE SAFETY TIPS https://store.holmgren.com.au/product/bushfire-safety-3ed/
THE COMPLETE BUSHFIRE SAFETY BOOK https://www.penguin.com.au/.../the-complete-bushfire...

Essential Bushfire Safety Tips covers everything needed to protect lives and homes and make the best bushfire safety plan to suit your situation.

With increased bushfire risk forecast for northern and central NSW, southern WA, and later in summer for Victoria, and a...
11/09/2025

With increased bushfire risk forecast for northern and central NSW, southern WA, and later in summer for Victoria, and above-average temperatures predicted nationwide, experts urge all Australians to prepare for dangerous bushfires—even in areas with normal risk levels. The best preparation includes staying informed through official channels, creating and practising a bushfire survival plan with your household, ensuring your home is clear of flammable debris, and packing an emergency kit with essentials. Every household should have a reliable bushfire safety resource such as the Complete Australian Bushfire Safety Book or Essential Bushfire Safety Tips, which offer practical advice relevant anywhere. Regularly review and refresh your plan and supplies to ensure you’re ready to respond to any bushfire situation.
To be safe from bushfires you need to start preparations early.
To prepare, you need the best possible information.
Essential Bushfire Safety Tips provides this.Feel free to also share your tips here. READERS’ COMMENTS:
• ‘Your tireless efforts have been the only reliable safety advice for some time.’ - N P Cheney PSM FIFA, former Head of CSIRO Bushfire Behaviour and Management.
• ‘Essential Bushfire Safety Tips is truly an outstanding achievement.’ - Steven Warrington, Former Chief Officer Country Fire Authority, Victoria
- ‘Kangaroo Valley is arguably the best example of a prepared community. Much of this on account of Essential Bushfire Safety Tips. This book definitely saved lives and property in Kangaroo Valley on January 4, 2020.’ - Matthew Gray, Chairman, Community Bushfire Planning Committee, Kangaroo Valley, NSW.
• ‘I am alive today because I read Essential Bushfire Safety Tips’ – Robyn Mitchell, Woombah, NSW, 2020.
ESSENTIAL BUSHFIRE SAFETY TIPS https://store.holmgren.com.au/product/bushfire-safety-3ed/
THE COMPLETE BUSHFIRE SAFETY BOOK https://www.penguin.com.au/.../the-complete-bushfire...

Essential Bushfire Safety Tips covers everything needed to protect lives and homes and make the best bushfire safety plan to suit your situation.

And meet the "Man Who Saved His Home From LA's Wildfire!"A short excellent video and account. Pacific Palisades resident...
30/04/2025

And meet the "Man Who Saved His Home From LA's Wildfire!"
A short excellent video and account. Pacific Palisades resident John Carr, 65 defied evacuation orders and saved his home. He nails how it’s all about the embers.
And for your preparation and planning:
Essential Bushfire Safety Tips
https://store.holmgren.com.au/product/bushfire-safety-3ed/
and in the USA
https://us.permacultureprinciples.com/.../bushfire.../
The Complete Bushfire Safety Book
https://www.penguin.com.au/.../the-complete-bushfire...

Pacific Palisades resident John Carr, 65, defied evacuation orders to save his family home from the devastating wildfire that ravaged his neighborhood. Armed...

Another gem from Ben Marden. The Historic Wonboyn Lake Bush Fires of 2020: Stay and Defend. Lessons Learnt. A written an...
30/04/2025

Another gem from Ben Marden. The Historic Wonboyn Lake Bush Fires of 2020: Stay and Defend. Lessons Learnt. A written and photographed account by By Ian Williamson and John Stapleton.
"From the first minute of the sky going dark I tried to keep a photographic and video record of the fire and the recovery. We survived and our property remained intact for one simple reason, we were prepared."
https://asenseofplacemagazine.com/the-historic-wonboyn-lake-bush-fires-of-2020-stay-and-defend-lessons-learnt/.
And for your own preparation and planning:
Essential Bushfire Safety Tips
https://store.holmgren.com.au/product/bushfire-safety-3ed/
and in the USA
https://us.permacultureprinciples.com/.../bushfire.../
The Complete Bushfire Safety Book
https://www.penguin.com.au/.../the-complete-bushfire...

Surrounded by nature reserves and national parks, Wonboyn Lake is a spectacular waterway nestled within the absolutely beautiful wilderness of the far south coast of New South Wales, Australia.

Kangaroo Valley, a small heritage/tourist town inland from Nowra, NSW, with many outlying properties nestled in the surr...
06/04/2025

Kangaroo Valley, a small heritage/tourist town inland from Nowra, NSW, with many outlying properties nestled in the surrounding state forest. A group of residents, determined to protect their homes, formed a Community Bushfire Planning Committee based on the information in Joan Webster OAM books plus individual and group, phone hook-up, discussions with her

During the 2020 Black Summer bushfires, Kangaroo Valley was devastated by the January 4 'Currowan' fire. Although the forest was completely burnt, every resident who stayed to defend, saved their home. An aerial video showed house after house standing intact among the blackened trunks of burnt trees that was all that was left of the forest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgdIok4Fuvk - take your time with this amazing video by Christopher Laught. This success has been attributed by the Committee to the thorough bushfire safety preparation enabled by the information in Joan Webster OAM books (notably Essential Bushfire Safety Tips) and from its discussions with her.

The cover photo of Bushfire Safety Awareness is of the Currowan fire approaching Kangaroo Valley, NSW, January 4, 2020 (c) Matthew Kelly.

‘Essential Bushfire Safety Tips was essential reading and definitely saved lives and property in Kangaroo Valley on January 4, 2020. Kangaroo Valley is now, arguably, the best example of a prepared community. Much of our preparedness was on account of your book Essential Bushfire Safety Tips and talking to you.’
-Matthew Gray Chairman, Community Bushfire Planning Committee, Kangaroo Valley, NSW.

On the 4th of January 2020 one of the devastating fires in New South Wales tore through the Rabbit Flat area of Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales late in the ...

Many thanks to Ben Marden for sharing this story with me. I was very aware of the Kangaroo Valley, NSW experience during...
06/04/2025

Many thanks to Ben Marden for sharing this story with me. I was very aware of the Kangaroo Valley, NSW experience during the Currowan fire January 4, 2020 as a group of residents, determined to protect their homes, formed a Community Bushfire Planning Committee based on the information in Joan Webster OAM books plus individual and group, phone hook-up, discussions with her. I will re share that story again too. But first, take some time out to watch ‘A Community Under Fire - Banding Together’. It is profound, as real as it gets and warms one’s heart of how a community under fire can band together and save it. A Community Under Fire - Banding Together is Braidwood's story about its fight against the Black Summer bushfires in 2019/20.

A Community Under Fire - Banding Together is Braidwood's story about its fight against the Black Summer bushfires in 2019/20.

If you have not seen the 'Bring Your Own Brigade' documentary it is worth watching at this time. I came away with these ...
25/01/2025

If you have not seen the 'Bring Your Own Brigade' documentary it is worth watching at this time. I came away with these key points and reflections and would be interested in yours.
• always plan and act as if any fire will be fast as they create their own wind.
• poor communication a factor in tragic fires.
• lack of knowledge i.e.: using a garden hose to fight fire front.
• If in car – have the woollen blanket and re show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlUke-3lOLM 'Learn to live with fire' used to be shown on TV when I was growing up.
• counterproductive fire suppression practices
• climate change argument just means need to be prepared more often.
• after fire front gone green vegetation left confirming ember attack
• there will never be a fire engine for every house and at every house.
• people pointing their fingers in other directions than to themselves.
• more building in fire risk areas, more people living on the fringes.
• the only planning is for evacuation - no city has the capacity to evacuate it’s whole population at the same time.
• the community can be the brigade – i.e. like Kangaroo Valley in NSW 2020
• only way to stop a house from burning is making it fire safe from embers.
• basic measures like gutter protection knocked back at council meeting.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/bring-your-own-brigade/

Two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker captures the horror and heroism of the deadliest week of wildfires in California history and explores the causes of what she calls a "global fire crisis" in the CBS Reports documentary "Bring Your Own Brigade."

Timely reminder for everyone as I share some posts of interest. This page is for everyone who lives or works within embe...
25/01/2025

Timely reminder for everyone as I share some posts of interest. This page is for everyone who lives or works within ember throw of a potential bushfire. Its purpose is :
* To provide scientifically verified bushfire safety information, clearing a path of understanding through the maze of policies and tangle of misconceptions and opinions.
* To facilitate informed choices best suited to one’s own circumstances.
* To bring a message of hope and empowerment: that with appropriate knowledge, preparation and awareness, towns, homes and people can safely survive this annual summer peril.
Essential Bushfire Safety Tips
https://store.holmgren.com.au/product/bushfire-safety-3ed/
and in the USA
https://us.permacultureprinciples.com/product/bushfire-safety-3ed/
The Complete Bushfire Safety Book
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-complete-bushfire-safety-book-9781740510349
‘I am alive today because I read Essential Bushfire Safety Tips’
- Robyn Mitchell, Woombah, NSW

‘Kangaroo Valley is arguably the best example of a prepared community. Much of this on account of Essential Bushfire Safety Tips. It definitely saved lives and property on January 4, 2020.’
- Capt Matthew Gray Chairman, Community Bushfire Planning Committee, Kangaroo Valley, NSW.

‘In 2018, my house, on the northwest of Zeehan, Tasmania, was the first in the fire's path. Ms Webster's book was my *primary* resource for getting my house into a defensible state, as well as for the possibility of evacuation during the bushfires. Despite evacuation of the town and I being absent on SES duties, my home survived the bushfire intact.’ - Kelly Jones, SES volunteer, Zeehan, Tasmania.

‘This book provides easy to understand and instructive information about preparing for fire and survival information which is not readily and collectively available in other resources.’ - Kate Partington BM, South East NSW.

‘I have found your books to be the most comprehensive & easily understandable bush fire safety knowledge literature available.’ - Seb King, Gosford, NSW.

Wishing you a safe & happy Christmas and New Year 🎄. There is a lot going on fire wise - so keep checking the many post...
21/12/2024

Wishing you a safe & happy Christmas and New Year 🎄. There is a lot going on fire wise - so keep checking the many posts to assist you in your planning, preparation & practice; be it grass fires; travelling, pets, leaving early or staying to defend prepared homes and the humble essential woollen blanket. Thank you for all your ongoing support as we keep my Mum Joan Websters's Bushfire Safety Awareness legacy and expertise and your valuable contibutions alive for the benefit of all.
Essential Bushfire Safety Tips
https://store.holmgren.com.au/product/bushfire-safety-3ed/
and in the USA
https://us.permacultureprinciples.com/.../bushfire.../
The Complete Bushfire Safety Book
https://www.penguin.com.au/.../the-complete-bushfire...

Essential Bushfire Safety Tips covers everything needed to protect lives and homes and make the best bushfire safety plan to suit your situation.

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