If you live in or near the bush, your home is at risk from bushfire. Bush includes bushland, scrub, grassland, farmland, heath, marram grass and buttongrass.

You should use these pages to guide you through the steps necessary to prepare your home so it can be defended against bushfires, except bushfires burning on days of ‘catastrophic’ fire danger.

Most bushfires in Tasmania occur during relatively mild summer weather and are easily controlled by firefighters. However, bushfires that break out on very hot, dry and windy days can spread rapidly and may be difficult or impossible for firefighters to control. These fires can burn large areas of forest and farmland, destroy homes and livestock, and sometimes kill and injure people.

A properly prepared home is more likely to survive a bushfire than one that hasn't been prepared, and the chances increase significantly if able-bodied people are there to protect your home.

Properly prepared and defended homes can provide a safe haven during almost all bushfires.

However, Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you should not plan to defend your home when the fire danger rating exceeds 50 (severe) unless you have created a defendable space and ember-proofed your home. Unless your home has a defendable space and has been designed and built specifically to withstand a bushfire*, you should not plan to defend it if the fire danger rating exceeds 75 (extreme).

People should not plan to defend their homes under any circumstances on days when the fire danger rating exceeds 100 (catastrophic), unless firefighters have assessed it on the day that a fire is threatening and have advised that it is defendable. This recognises that even on days with catastrophic fire danger ratings, some homes, because of their circumstances, are defendable. For example, a farmhouse surrounded by several hectares of planted vegetables, ploughed fields or heavily-grazed paddocks is likely to be defendable, particularly if it has been well-constructed and ember-proofed.

However, the safest option always is to leave before a fire threatens your home. If you are not staying to defend your property, you should plan to leave early. Many people have died in bushfires because they have tried to relocate too late, and have been trapped and burnt in their cars or on foot. Fewer lives will be lost if people who choose to leave do so well before a bushfire threatens their home.

If you plan to be Using Fire Outdoors, be careful and check to see if a fire permit period has been declared.

*Australian Standard AS 3959 Building in Bushfire Prone Areas or equivalent measures