Bushfire Safety Awareness

01/11/2026

While local, there will be information from the forum to share here. Holmgren will have copies of the Essential Bushfire Safety Tips book available.

31/10/2026

The PLEA Network contains a wealth of bushfire research, practical experience, and community knowledge. It includes a section on Joan Webster's pioneering work, recognising that many concepts now standard in official bushfire safety publications were first introduced in her groundbreaking book, The Complete Australian Bushfire Book (1986), shortlisted for the BHP Pursuit of Excellence Award in 1987. As you know this influential publication, together with its successors, The Complete Bushfire Safety Book and Essential Bushfire Safety Tips (also available as an eBook), has been widely praised by bushfire authorities in Australia and overseas. Readers credit these resources with helping to save lives, homes, and properties.

For live emergency information access: VicEmergency app, ABC local radio (for Ballarat – 107.9FM), or VicEmergency Hotline – 1800 226 226. In an emergency, call 000 Brown Hill FireAware Network – Resources “Research into the impacts of bushfires in Australia indicates that approximately 85% ...

31/10/2026

THE SCOPE OF A BUSHFIRE SAFETY PLAN - the 3 Core Bushfire Safety Primer is a handy reference to keep on hand, on the fridge - and for detail and how to - see Bushfire Safety Awareness and https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=5770258879697889&set=pb.100067431443546.-2207520000

THE SCOPE OF A BUSHFIRE SAFETY PLAN
Emergency radio stations are asking 'Have you made a bushfire safety plan'?
So what is the scope of a Bushfire Safety Plan? Do you need one if your decision is to evacuate?

A Bushfire Safety Plan recognises that:
• Every bushfire is different
o large, small; intense, mild; forest, grass; forecast, sudden.
• Every township is different
o topography; vegetation type & density; layout of streets & houses.
• Every house is different
- style, garden type, distance from neighbours.
• Every household is different
- large or small; away or home; age and ability; attitude of fighting spirit or fear.

A Bushfire Safety Plan covers safety of persons, animals, house and outbuildings.

A Bushfire Safety Plan provides alternatives:
• Considers the alternate stresses of abandoning your home as well as protecting it.
• Plans procedure for safe house protection
• Plans procedure for safe evacuation procedure
• Plans procedure e for safe shelter
• Considers the alternate stresses of abandoning your home as well as protecting it.

A Bushfire Safety Plan
• needs to be based on the fullest authentic information available
• covers every aspect to keep you and your home as safe as possible
• includes chores to do in seasons preceding summer.
• has every member of family assigned tasks
• needs to be written down
• needs to be practiced frequently. This the cornerstone of a Bushfire Safety Plan.

A Bushfire Safety Plan includes post bushfire actions:
• if your house has survived, how to check inside and out for lingering embers
• if your house has been destroyed, where you would be able to live
• if you have stock, how you would attend to them.

A Bushfire Safety Plan
Starts in winter:
• modifications to house and outbuildings for ember protection.
Gets busier in spring:
• management of gardens. No plant within flame reach of windows or flammable walls.
• preparation for stock safety
Intensifies in early summer:
• cutting grass; clearing beneath trees, alongside fences, in gutters
• checking water supply, fittings, pumps, personal survival kits

BE PREPARED, BE PLANNED, BE PRACTICED

THE COMPLETE BUSHFIRE SAFETY BOOK - the in-depth, comprehensive, classic work - and its ready reference ESSENTIAL BUSHFIRE SAFETY TIPS - organised in dot-point one-liners for quick access to information - are the only resources that:
• provide comprehensive, easy-read, scientific information
• itemise safe and unsafe reactions
• empower you to design a safety plan to suit your particular circumstances.
Readers' comments:
* ‘Essential Bushfire Safety Tips is truly an outstanding achievement and a book that certainly could help save lives within the community. - Steven Warrington, Former Chief Officer Country Fire Authority, Victoria
* ‘I am alive today because I read Essential Bushfire Safety Tips’ – Robyn Mitchell, Woombah, NSW.
* ‘I gave my daughter a copy of your book before the 2009 Kilmore East fires and they saved their own place and the house behind them.’ – Annette Berkenbiel, Chewton Bushlands.
* ‘Kangaroo Valley is now, arguably, the best example of a prepared community. Much of our preparedness was on account of your books. They definitely saved lives and property on January 4, 2020.’ - Capt Matthew Gray, Chairman Community Bushfire Planning Committee Kangaroo Valley, NSW
* ‘No-one else has so succinctly and accurately delivered the science in an accessible way with practical actions that anyone can follow.’ - V. Solomon, Trainer - Horticulture and Permaculture Landscape Designer, Eltham
THE COMPLETE BUSHFIRE SAFETY BOOK https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-complete-bushfire-safety-book-9781740510349
ESSENTIAL BUSHFIRE SAFETY TIPS https://store.holmgren.com.au/product/bushfire-safety-3ed/

20/10/2026

Are you seeking practical, forward-thinking bushfire preparation information?

This event near Castlemaine, Central Victoria brings together a diverse lineup of guest speakers with real-world experience and expert knowledge.

Topics will span how houses burn, bushfire resilient landscape design and management, household and community response planning and post disaster resilience and reintegration.

Day 1 will include site visits in the Castlemaine/Harcourt area to inspect bushfire management in action, and Day 2 will be discussion panels at the Campbell's Creek Community Centre.

If bushfire is on your mind then come along, get some really helpful info and connect with local people in the know.

For bookings just comment "Forum" below and we'll send you the link to sign up.

02/10/2026

10/09/2026

If you live in a region where bushfire is a possibility, now's the time to start preparing.

We have a free download to inspire and inform your bushfire preparations.

The Bushfire Safety Primer is an extract from Joan Websters "Essential Bushfire Safety Tips.” It's one page of info that could save your life.

Just comment "PREP" below and we'll send you the link.

Also very soon we plan to host a Bushfire Forum - stay tuned for news of that on our channels.

05/09/2026

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30/08/2026

Essential Bushfire Safety Tips mentioned! Make sure you refresh the core primers - or grab a copy from Holmgren Permaculture’s Melliodora Publishing

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.