Tenderbreak Has a French Connection

Emilie (originally from France) has come to stay with us for a while. She is helping us out with the many tasks that need doing and from time to time treats us to the taste of French cooking. (She bakes a very tasty quiche.) This is a great way to learn about other cultures and their view of the world. In return we provide accommodation and share our knowledge and skills- just like the WWOOFER program.

During our dry summer Emilie helped us keep the water up to all the plants. Each morning we were up early, trying to get it done before it got too hot. I am starting to sweat just thinking about it.

The combination of heat and damp promoted rapid plant growth, but the weeds enjoyed these conditions too. The mulch kept most of them down, but occasionally pulling by hand was required to stop them overtaking the crops. The photo shows Sally and Emilie getting stuck into the weeds around the corn plants in January.
Of course the day is not all work- there is time for relaxing too. Emilie enjoys artistic pursuits and decided to decorate the egg cartons that we use for our eggs that we sell at the Healesville Organic Market. We tell customers that they are paying for the classy egg carton, and we‘re throwing in the eggs for free. Each week we quickly sell out of eggs- we are not sure whether its because of the artistically decorated cartons or the quality of the eggs inside.

A box of our potatoes can also be seen on the table. We had a bumper harvest this year. We dug up around 70kg of mostly goodsized spuds. The ones in the box were mainly Ruby Lou.

Emilie also enjoys nature and quiet contemplation. Here she is having a nap down by our dam.

Petty's Apple Festival & Tenderbreak Tours

Like hundreds of others, we attended the annual apple festival at Petty’s Orchard in Templestowe on March 31st. There was a wide variety of stalls, displays and activities for people to view. Some of the highlights were tours of the heritage orchard with hundreds of varieties of apples, very informative talks by Freddie the “Snake Man”, talks about heritage apples and the yummy tasting tent where you can “taste test” a whole range of apples. This enables you to choose varieties to plant that you know you like. There was plenty of healthy organic food available for lunch- our favourite was Janet’s large plate of delicious organic pasta with pesto.

There were several displays by permaculture groups and stalls selling plants. We couldn’t resist buying a cool climate banana plant for our sister-in-law who uses the bananas and leaves in her Thai cooking. Snake Gully Cider had demonstrations of cider making and for those with a sweet tooth, John the ice cream man sold delicious organic ice creams. The photo above shows our stall (the one with the yellow and red flags). Thankyou to Belinda ( http://belindas-simple-life.blogspot.com/ ) for providing this photo and the one at left of the "Tasting tent".

As we have done for the past few years we had a stall selling some of our veggies and our friend’s bird & rat proof chook feeder (We’ll do a post on this great product soon). Our daughter, Sally (Mustang Sal’s Nature Photography) had a great display of some of her framed photos and the photo cards that she creates.

It was a very successful day with Sally selling quite a few cards and we sold most of the veggies. We also had a chance to speak with dozens of lovely people, many of whom had already been on one of the tours we run at Tenderbreak Permaculture Farm. This is the main reason we go to festivals and markets like this. We love chatting with people about the social, environmental and economic issues that have arisen over the past few decades and discussing what we can do to resolve these. We share what we have learned on our journey towards a more sustainable life, and love hearing about other people’s experiences.

The markets also provide an opportunity to promote our “Permaculture In Action” tours. Our April 5th tour was booked out with 15 people attending. Although we advertise the tours as going from 1:30 to 4:00pm there was so much to see and talk about, we finished up around 5pm. Our May 17th tour is close to being booked out, so we have decided to add additional tours on MAY 3rd and MAY 24th. If you would like to attend one of these tours contact us and we will book you in and send you a map showing how to get here. If these dates are unsuitable send us your email address and we’ll put you on our mailing list and keep you informed about future tour dates. If you would like more information about the tours we can send you a pamphlet with all the details.

Congratulations to Pete the Permie and the other organisers for a wonderfully interesting and informative day at Petty’s. We are looking forward to next year’s festival on the last Sunday in March- make sure you put it in your calendar now.

More Thoughts for the Royal Commission

As we explained in our last post, we are being dogged by questions and thoughts about the fires. There is no way we can prevent wildfire events. They are integral to this part of the world and will continue to occur, possibly more frequently and with even more ferocity.

In our submission to the Royal Commission we painted a picture of a potential scenario that could easily occur if the circumstances of Black Saturday were just a bit different. What if it had happened on a week day, and spot fires (or arsonists) had lit fires closer to outer suburban areas like Lilydale, Wonga Park or towns around the Dandenong Ranges. The fires in Canberra a few years ago set a terrible example. If the fire had taken hold in a suburban area it would have spread from house to house with dire consequences. Apart from the flames, residents would have to cope with massive amounts of dense smoke. The roads would be clogged with panicking people trying to get home, others trying to flee, parents collecting school children and all this happening during peak homeward bound traffic. Fires in industrial areas could add explosions and poisonous fumes to the mix. Power outages would cause traffic lights to fail, gas lines could ignite and water pressure would drop dramatically. Would people know what to do and where to go? Emergency services would be stretched to the limit.

Some people may think we are being over the top, but we believe this scenario needs to be carefully thought through. If we do not develop strategies in readiness for such extreme situations, the results would be too terrible to contemplate.

One strategy that would allow communities to be better prepared is for the government to declare extreme days (like 7th February) an “Emergency Situation Day” on the prior evening. Like an advanced level fire ban day, this would trigger certain behaviours in fire prone areas and suburbs. Schools would be closed, businesses would be asked to consider closing, companies would be asked to provide leave to employees who live or work in the affected areas or who are CFA members. All this would happen early in the day. Residents could follow a generic fire plan which lists steps and precautions they need to take and the location of the nearest safe haven.

An emergency declaration would enable people to arrange their day without panic. Those leaving could leave early. Those staying to defend could stay home and prepare. Volunteer fire fighting personnel could ready themselves. The fact that this would happen only occasionally and normal daily life is disrupted would be a clear signal, that that particular day is considered extremely dangerous. It would force people to at least seriously consider their situation and hopefully make some sensible decisions early in the day.

In our society we have lost touch with the environment and its warning signals- cocooned in our homes with air conditioning and electrical entertainment and connected to the world via a computer. We need to regain the ability to be aware of times when nature is setting up a disaster scenario and to take action to protect our loved ones and our communities before it occurs.

EVACUATIONS.
Some people have called for forced evacuations in times of extreme crisis. We object most strongly to this idea. There are a myriad of problems with this approach. Forcing people onto roads in a continually changing wildfire event is far too dangerous. Often the people organising the evacuation are not familiar with the local area. Lack of local knowledge can lead to dangerous advice.

In these highly emotionally charged disasters the last thing anyone needs is conflict, which is what would result if police tried to evacuate residents who were determined to stay. In the days after Black Saturday, Heather was told she could not pass a police roadblock on the Melba Hwy to return home. She was 5 km from home, had travelled out along our access road an hour earlier and knew it was safe. The police officer did not know the area and did not fully understand the intent of his orders which was to prevent people travelling up the highway. Our side road was perfectly safe at that stage. His obstinacy caused her much distress and she was at the point of driving through his roadblock. Fortunately he listened to reason in the end. By all means give warnings to people, but in a free society we must retain the right to make our own decisions.

We Can't Stop the Fires, But We Can Be Better Prepared

One of our delayed reactions to Black Saturday, has been that we constantly relive what happened in our minds and conversation. Not from the ‘wasn’t it terrible” viewpoint, but more in a questioning way. We are trying to understand exactly what happened and why. We were too busy on the night and in the days after, to do anything but deal with the emergency.

The sorts of questions that are preying on our minds are:-
· How are the many people who lost houses, precious possessions, pets, and worst of all their loved ones, coping? We are reminded of their loss every time we go past the wreckage that was once somebody’s home. This brings tears to our eyes as we feel a small part of their pain.
· Will the bush and its inhabitants return to something resembling what it was before the fires, in our lifetime?
· Why have we no recollection of radiant heat or the sound of the fire?
· How could so much lovely bush (whole forests) be transformed in such a short time?
· How fast did the fire spread? It seemed to arrive and the next thing we knew, it was all around us. How long did this process take?
· How much luck was involved in our fire fighting efforts?
· Would a fire driven by a north wind be worse than this fire that came from the south?
· How is it that the legs of the wooden stands that support our beehives started burning, but the fire fizzled out and the hives survived without our intervention?
· Where did the lyrebird go to survive? Did more survive?
· Did any goannas survive? These massive (2m+ long) ancient looking reptiles always gave us a thrill as they stomped their way through the forest.
· Why did a particular tree or small area of bush not burn?
· Why did the fire come to our place? It travelled 10 km over undulating grasslands burning much of the Pauls Creek Valley, but missed some areas altogether. Was this chance, or were there reasons for the path it followed?
· Was there more that we could have done on the night? This question haunts me (Andrew) in particular. Understandably I was preoccupied with fighting the fire and continually checking out everything, but if only I had spent 10 minutes letting a substantial amount of water out of the dam outlet. This may have created a less intense fire in the gully below our dam.
· What can we do to be better prepared in the future?
· What strategies would be valuable in future events?
· How do you get the message about really basic preparations and behaviours through to everyone in fire prone areas? Some people appeared to be completely unprepared, were not alert on the day and when the fires came many made some really dangerous decisions.

These last three questions have prompted us to put in a submission to the Royal Commission. We don’t expect much attention to be paid to our thoughts (amongst the thousands of pages of expert comment), but we are doing it because we would like to do what we can to help avoid such a massive loss of life in the future. Victoria is certain to have more fires- possibly even worse ones, but we must develop strategies to keep people safe. We are also hoping that by doing this, all the questions that keep popping up in our heads will be put to rest.

Here are two of the ideas we have come up with:-

CLOSURE OF FORESTS
There is a need for the introduction of a state wide “Closure of Forests” on total fire ban days. That is all National Parks, State Forests and Forest reserves where possible should be closed to public access on fire ban days. The benefits include:-
· Closing forests would make it more difficult for arsonists to access isolated bushland roadsides.
· Apprehension/identification would be easier because forest staff and the general public would know that those entering the forests are doing it illegally.
· Less people in the forest means less chance of fires being accidentally started from cigarettes, bbq’s etc
· Forest closures would reduce the need to rescue people who get trapped in the forest by fire.

DEMONSTRATION SITES
A way of helping residents improve their fire defences would be to run demonstration days. Selected properties could be used to provide real life examples of fire defence strategies. Many people cannot /will not read the very useful material put out by the CFA, however they may be prepared to spend a couple of hours looking at what others are doing. This works for open gardens and farm demonstration days- why not for fire defence education?
Most of our ideas are “concepts” that would need a lot more work to make them feasible. Some may be impractical and financially unviable. The thing is, we need every idea on the table, even ‘way out ones’, so that the best can be selected for follow up. We welcome your comments-perhaps you would like to make a submission yourself. The Royal Commission website has all the details on how to make a submission. See http://www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/Submissions
In the next post we will describe a couple of other thoughts we have had.

Concrete Bunkers in Bushfire Prone Areas

Property design, planning and preparation are keys to saving life and property in a wildfire. However it is almost impossible to be 100% ready- there is always the chance of unexpected factors arising. These could include the fire being worst than expected, trees falling across exit routes or on top of houses, cars not starting, having a bad fall etc. In case a worst case scenario arises, having a backup plan is good insurance and provides a greater sense of security.

Our backup plan (which we fortunately didn’t need to resort to) was to shelter in our concrete bunker. It is an adapted concrete water tank with strengthened walls and roof so it can be earth covered. A metal door in the side allows access and there is provision for a vent in the roof. We installed this in 2000 and have been progressively getting it ready. Two years ago we backfilled earth around it, but have not yet covered the top with soil.
The bunker is located just metres from our back door allowing quick access in an emergency. It is next to the double brick masonry wall of the house which should shield it from fire, if the house caught alight. There is a tap located on the corner of the house to provide a water supply. The plan is to use Besser type bricks to build a retaining wall on each side of the bunker entrance and then completely cover it with soil/gravel.

There is some concern about fires consuming all available oxygen. Although we have to do further research on this aspect, we expect that the oxygen available in the structure should be adequate for the length of time we would be in there. Experts generally say that it is best to focus on fighting the fire and putting out embers until it gets too dangerous. We would only need to stay in the shelter until the worst of the front has passed, and then it would be back outside to put out what we can.


Other considerations are:-
· If it gets too hot the metal door could expand, jam or buckle. There will be no flammable material near the bunker door so this should not be an issue.
· Sprinklers could be used to continually soak the area with water.
· We will have a supply of water for drinking and fire fighting equipment inside the bunker including damp towels etc.
· Filters could be installed to prevent entry of smoke.

This view from the north shows our white 7,500 gal. water tank with the fire shelter behind. This arrangement was part of our permaculture plan. Rather than just having a water tank and a fire refuge we have achieved many extra functions from these two pieces of infrastructure.
Apart from use as a fire shelter, the bunker has an everyday use as a cellar for storage of pumpkins, spuds, fruit, wine, ginger beer etc. It has been sealed with a coating of water proof material and backfilled with gravel on all sides to ensure water drains away without causing dampness. Once it is finished it should maintain a reasonably constant temperature in winter and summer.
The backfill against the water tank helps keep the water cool and means the tank is less susceptible to damage in a fire.
The fact that this wall is largely earth sheltered sets the house down low, so embers and heat largely pass overhead.
The setup provides easy access to the roof without ladders. (Of value whenever roof access is required but particularly in emergencies.)
The earth sheltered house wall adds extra thermal mass to the house, helping to keep temperatures in the house comfortable all year.

Hopefully a concrete bunker would never be required for emergency use. However it is a good investment because, apart from providing some piece of mind, it has potential to fulfil many other functions.

Healesville Organic Market

This market is quite different to most of the so called “farmers markets’ that have sprung up around Melbourne. It was an initiative of the Yarra Valley Permaculture Group as a way of improving the quality and security of our food supply. Five years ago it established the market, aiming to encourage locals to produce organic food for sale to their community.

Over the years it has steadily grown and become a main source of local organic food in the area. Although only a small market, there are a wide range of products for sale including seasonal vegetables and fruits, honey, compost worms, garlic, bees wax, pottery, nature photographs, juices, breads, seeds, plants and more. Some weeks we are joined by extra stalls selling wooden toys, chook feeders, soaps, chai tea, jams and preserves and delicious food for morning tea. There is also a stall that supplies organic food from Victoria Market that cannot be grown locally.
The concept of keeping food miles to a minimum is more important than ever as oil becomes scarce and global warming worsens. Apart from its environmental benefits there are economic, health and social benefits as well. Shoppers are supporting local growers, the organic food is free of pesticides and other chemicals, and often picked the night before or that morning- we are REAL fresh food people. The market has become a regular Saturday morning social occasion. Unlike many other markets the focus is not so much on making money but on enriching and supporting the community.

Growers and buyers usually know each other by name and spend time chatting and sharing news, gardening tips or networking. On fine days customers sit and have a bit to eat or drink as they catch up with friends. The market is held every Saturday morning from 8am to 1 pm outside the Healesville Railway Station.

As our society has become more complex and more interlinked globally, it has also in some ways become more fragile. A natural disaster, accident, a poorly thought through government or business policy or terrorist attack can have terrible consequences for large numbers of people. In the last 10 years we have seen the effects of company crashes, gas plant explosions, oil shortages, energy shortages, water shortages etc. We can build some protection from these events by developing resilient communities. Communities and individuals are starting to take on responsibility for the necessities of life by generating their own power, storing their own water and growing their own food. This concept can be taken further through projects such as the Transition Town concept. Gavin's (http://greeningofgavin.blogspot.com/ ) latest blog entry describes in great detail the exent to which our society has become dependent on oil and how the transition Towns model may hold many of the answers.

Although our organic market’s focus is on food supply we are doing our best to promote other elements of community resilience. The market offers opportunities to network, share ideas and promote community activities and hopefully provides a model that can be taken up by other communities.

If you are up Healesville way on a Saturday morning, drop in to the market and say hello to us at the Tenderbreak Permaculture Farm stall and the other stallholders. Most of us have been through the fires or been very close, so seeing faces not covered in soot makes a pleasant change.

Preparing for Wildfire

This post focuses on the factors that we believe helped save our place and includes aspects of our permaculture design intended to reduce the threat, as well as what we learned from our recent experience. Comments relate specifically to our location and personal observations, and may not apply under different conditions.

House designOur house is mudbrick with small amounts of exposed timber and built on a slab. Embers blown up against the exposed slab are easily spotted and extinguished. Exposed timber surfaces are smooth so embers blow off. We kept the house profile low so that a firestorm’s embers and radiant heat would largely pass overhead. Before and during the fire we continually wetted down external surfaces-especially vulnerable parts of the roof structure. The eastern wall is earth covered, giving that wall more protection and allowing us to gain quick access to the roof.
On the northern side (the most likely direction of a firestorm) the bulk of the forest is 80m away. We located our dam and vegetable patch between us and the forest to create a low risk buffer. As fires tend to race up slopes we built our house on an area with a low gradient. Our orchard is located to the northeast of the house providing another green buffer and a wide driveway with cleared sides provides a firebreak to the west and south. This photo is taken from our roof looking north. The burnt forest can be seen on the other side of the dam.

Breaks in vegetationWe do have extensive areas of native plants including some eucalypts close to the house. However these plants are broken into groups with breaks between them and we have generally focused on low risk plants like grevilleas, wattles etc. We mow under the bigger trees and remove potential fuel such as sticks. These areas are thoroughly wet down during risky periods.

The Bush
We gather fallen timber for our wood stove and wood heater and burn fallen timber in areas close to the house, to reduce potential fuel levels.. In our experience trees were not a major problem. The fire raced along at ground level with an intensity related to the amount of fuel available on the ground. It did tend to race up trees with fibrous bark (stringybarks), but if there was not a lot of heat generated from fuel at the base it tended to fizzle out once it reach 8-10 metres without igniting the canopy (see photo). We put a lot of effort into hosing or bucketing water onto tree trunks, because most wind-blown embers came from up higher up the tree trunks.

Many native plants did not readily burn. These included wattles, tea tree and smooth trunked eucalypts. These plants were only vulnerable where there was a build up of fuel on the ground. This photo shows how the fire burnt all around a patch of titree without igniting it.
Some people advocate the removal of all trees in the vicinity of the house. This may have several detrimental effects which should be taken into consideration:-
· The fire travelled fast across the open grasslands, but seemed to slow down once it arrived at our heavily treed block. Perhaps the trees and thick undergrowth slowed the wind.
· Trees may provide a shield against radiant heat and deflect that heat upwards.
· The foliage of trees can catch embers, perhaps reducing the amount being blown at the house.
· Trees have many benefits for humans and the environment, unrelated to fire.

The other point we would like to make in regard to people who wish to remove all trees from their land is, why are they buying bushland properties in the first place? Surely if they have a desire to live in a cleared area that’s the sort of block they should be buying. They should also be aware that many houses located in paddocks burned to the ground.
Bare earth, paths and tracksThese proved to be very valuable in stopping the spread of the fire. Our drive sweeps around the edge of the bush providing some protection on the west, south and east of the house. As our soil is very poor, there are various areas where there is no vegetation at all. (Poor soils have their benefits.) One of these areas is where we built our solar array. Of course it is wise to ensure grass is mown short in critical areas such as around tanks, pumps, sheds, the house etc. Surprisingly a sawdust path was enough to stop the fire creeping along. (see photo).

Water supply
Adequate water and a guaranteed supply are essential to defend a property. In a firestorm, town water is likely to be unavailable so an independent supply is required and preferably from two or more independent sources. Mains power is likely to go off so pressure pumps may not work. All pipes must be safely buried and protected where they come to the surface.
We have two independent water reticulation systems with multiple water sources supplying each system. Our large dam feeds into our garden watering system via fire pump. Above the house a small header dam feeds into the same system. In all, the two dams hold 5 megalitres of water when full, and we used only a fraction of this to fight the fire.
Our other water system is 80,000l of drinking water held in four tanks. An electric transfer pump (powered by our independent system) is used to shift water to a header tank giving us good pressure in our house taps. If the pump should fail, we still have a low pressure supply from 2 tanks that are positioned higher than the house giving us a head of about 5 metres.
We saved the header tank in the bush by keeping fuel loads around it low and by pumping till it overflowed dampening the area around it.
Taps
Thirty taps are located strategically around our infrastructure. One set is close to the house, another set is about 15m away and a third set provides water to edges of the area we intend defending. Most of our taps are fed by 50mm pipes with 25mm rises, reducing friction and maximising flow rates.
Hoses
We have a mix of hoses that we have collected over the years. We are gradually switching to 20mm diameter hoses and standardising fittings to make it easy to switch hoses between various taps. We do have 2 fire fighting hoses which are very useful for delivering large quantities of water or throwing over a distance. Having at least one very long hose (30-50m) allows the fire to be attacked well before it gets close to the house (if it is safe to do so). Having plenty of hoses is useful because shifting them around is time consuming, risks damage and is hard work.

Power supplyIn an emergency, mains power is likely to be lost, so this should be taken into consideration. Having our own solar supply was useful, but it meant we had an extra asset to protect. We also used our petrol generator because we were running our electric transfer pump for extensive periods. As this photo shows, the fire came to within 10m of our solar panels and generator.

Fighting the fire
Fortunately there were four of us fighting the fire. This allowed for two to protect the house and two to focus on further out areas and to look after anything else that cropped up or needed doing (eg supplying drinking water to people on hoses). Less than four would have made it a more difficult job.
Speed of ApproachFires can move quickly. Even though we had an hour's warning, we did not have enough time to fully prepare. Everywhere we looked, there were jobs that needed doing. Jobs that we had been intending to do, but never got round to doing. Some that come to mind are raking up leaves in vulnerable areas (leaf build up occurs every few days in dry conditions), fixing a broken hose, weeding around taps, buying extra smoke masks and having standardised hose fixings.
Prevailing windAlthough it was the wind (southerly change) that brought the fire to our place, in some respects the wind proved helpful. Once the fire had passed the house, the wind pushed the fire front northwards. It kept expanding on the sides but at slower pace, that was easier to fight. The other advantage of the southerly change was the fact that it was cooler. In fact, none of us have a clear recollection of overbearing heat- although it must have been hot at times.
In southern Australia the hot blustery northern winds are usually the cause of destructive fires, and this was the direction we expected the fire to come from. However our plan also considered fire coming from other directions, as was the case this time.
Broad Scale CalamityThe speed of the fire combined with the fact that dozens of fires were erupting concurrently, meant that no matter how efficient the emergency services and media were, there was no way they could provide 100% accurate local information in real time, nor could they help every property owner. Do not expect emergency services to help you- of course if they do that’s a bonus.
Protective clothingWe had the following in our “Fire Fighting Box”.
· Several pairs of cotton overalls and hats
· Masks designed to filter out smoke particles (P2 paper masks with valves). Have enough spares in case they break or get clogged.
· Goggles- smoke in the eyes is blinding and particles become painful
Boots- strong lace up leather boots are also desirable. Gum boots can melt on hot coals.
Preparation
The CFA have excellent guides listing jobs that need doing. As well as the obvious stuff, a regular inspection of infrastructure is wise. Check out all pipes, taps and dam stop valves, clear around tanks, pumps and other critical infrastructure. Have generators, chainsaws, pumps etc all fuelled up and test run them on high danger days. Plenty of fuel and spare spark plugs are a good investment.
Wet down and keep wetting down critical areas but take steps to stop dam water contaminating drinking water. Have a plan of what you are going to do about animals and do it early. We brought our dog, corella, guinea pig and some chooks into the house. Apart from the dog they were safely shut up in suitable boxes with feed and water.
Fire PlanWe had a carefully thought out fire plan. Each year we revised it, to take into account new factors. The plan details what needed to be done and when. Although we hadn’t completed 100% of our tasks, once the fires started we knew exactly what needed to be done.
Stay and fight or Evacuate?The key question in a fire plan is whether to go or stay. We had always planned to stay, but as it turned out, we had no choice on the day because the fire came from the south- the only escape route we had. This highlights the importance of leaving early if that is the chosen option, and early means the night before a dangerous day or early morning at the latest. We know neighbours who had intended leaving, but the speed and ferocity of the fire prevented them. Although they lost their house they were able to shelter in a wetted down area and were eventually rescued by the police.
The choice to stay should not be taken lightly, and only if adequate preparations have been made and the property is defendable. See other notes for our ideas on what we believe is necessary to defend a property. We are still horrified by talk back radio callers saying that they intend leaving early - "as soon as they see smoke". This is far too late. There are numerous instances of people being caught on the roads. Even a distant fire can reduce visibility to dangerous levels.
GardensGardens were part of our defence plan. Our large well mulched veggie patch is to the north. This was kept wet during the whole ordeal and the dampness caused any embers that landed here to quickly extinguish.
The house itself is mostly surrounded by areas of mown grass and our gravelled drive so there was very little fuel near the house.
Property designWe were fortunate in that we had completed a Permaculture Design Certificate Course in 1995. Although this is fundamentally aimed at developing a property plan for sustainable and energy efficient living, it also covers consideration of defence against wildfire. As we developed our property plan, fire defence was a significant factor in our decision making. Improving our PreparednessNow that the fire has passed through, fuel load in our area has been massively reduced and the risk of wildfire should be low for a few years. However each year after that, the risk will increase. We have already started planning on how we can make this property even safer. Our ideas include:-
· Extra taps in some areas, and a sprinkler system on the house
· Expand the clearing around our solar system
· Replace 12mm hoses with large diameter hoses and position at least one extra long hose on each side of the property
· Remove all sticks and sapling growth within 30 metres of areas we wish to protect, before summer and maintain this during the fire danger period.
The CommunityAs the saying goes “no man is an island”. We are all part of a community and if our community is better protected, then our risk is also reduced. Our local fireguard group under the guidance of Serafina (CFA representative) helped us develop awareness of fire behaviour and helpful strategies. We also gained a better understanding of the broader risks and Serafina (just a few weeks before) took us through what happens in a wildfire situation, which meant we were much more prepared mentally for such an event.
Another aspect of community, is the risk posed from neighbouring properties. Our fire came via the surrounding farmland. Perhaps strategically ploughed firebreaks may have slowed its progress. In built up areas, if one house catches fire it would be very hard to protect other houses close by. Hopefully when communities are rebuilt, communal strategies will be developed that protect groups of houses (eg a large communal store of water with a reliable fire pump)

In summary, we consider these factors to be critical before staying and defending property
· Ensure children and others who are not capable of actively fighting the fire evacuate before any risk arises. (eg day before)
· Adequate independent, fail proof water supply available on all sides of area to be defended
· Develop fire breaks and green buffers around each side of the house
· Independent power supply, if power is critical
· Protective clothing for everyone
· Prepare the property before the fire season, keep it prepared and be on guard on high risk days
· Have a carefully thought through fire plan with back-up plan for a worst case scenario
· Join a local fireguard group and/or liaise with the local CFA. Knowledge is power.
· Minimise fuel loads at ground level in areas to be protected.
· Protect vulnerable parts of the house- eg build on a slab and close up points of entry to the roof space.
FOOTNOTE We run regular small group tours of Tenderbreak Permaculture Farm. See our Blog post dated Jan 9, 2009 for more details. After the fire danger period is over (hopefully very soon) we will start running these tours again. On the tour we normally explain our bushfire preparations, but this year there will be an added dimension- detailing what worked and what could be done better. If you would like to be kept informed about dates for these tours or would like more information, email us at tenderbreak@bigpond.com.