Living with Fire
Would you like to learn how fire works, how bushfires behave, how to design a bushfire resilient garden and what helps create bushfire resilient communities?
If so, you might be interested in Living with Fire - a free, fully online 12-week unit offered by the University of Tasmania as part of the Diploma of Sustainable Living.
Living with Fire is for anyone interested in the many practical and fascinating questions about fire in our lives today. You don’t need any previous experience at university or with fire to enrol.
For more information, go to: https://www.utas.edu.au/courses/cse/units/kpz104-living-with-fire
You can also email the Course Coordinator, Dr Tristan Derham at Tristan.Derham@utas.edu.au
Short course
Can’t do the full 12-week course? You might be interested in a free 4-week ‘taster’
If you can’t commit or aren’t sure about taking on the full 12-week unit, you can try a ‘taster’ version of the course. This is also free and fully online and presents the first section of the full 12-week unit.
To sign up for the short course, go to: https://www.utas.edu.au/study/short-courses/living-with-fire
Fire and your health
The University of Tasmania also offer a free online short course Bushfires and Your Health. The course covers how bushfires and smoke affect your physical and mental health, and what you can do about it. You can learn at your own pace, which includes signing in and picking up where you left off at a time that suits you. The course will take you approximately 10-12 hours to complete.
The course will next open for enrolments in spring 2025.
We will post more information when enrolments open, for more information in the meantime email bushfirehealth@utas.edu.au
Renew Australia Inc. is a national, not-for-profit organisation that inspires, enables and advocates for people to live sustainably in their homes and communities. Established in 1980, Renew provides expert, independent advice on sustainable solutions for the home to households, government and industry.
The following events are part of Renew's Green Rebuild Toolkit http://www.greenrebuildtoolkit.com, to support communities rebuilding after bushfire and to provide resources for resilient building design.
Beyond BAL Bushfire Resilient Design Series: November-December 2023
Series link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDW2pl5hFK8sadWhBhT5wDPqmCpgWCr9v
In the Beyond BAL project, Renew showcased 12 homes across Australia that exemplify resilient design elements and building practices that extend the understanding of best practice beyond the complicated and variable Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) rating system. Renew spoke to the people who designed, built, or lived in these homes.
Series link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDW2pl5hFK8vXncFFaVE1I9HAUuXnpxw0
The Building and Retrofitting for Fire Resilience webinar was held in conjunction with Sustainable House Day: September 2021
Event series: June 2021
Series link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDW2pl5hFK8tAN5zSL-GncWjXIeHX5-DE
Burning Issues – Design and Building for Bushfire Protection: October 2020
Series link: https://youtu.be/zYwqwRrSl9s?si=hpqDhVRTv0GH40p5
The Fire Wise project proposes that strategic native planting can enhance biodiversity conservation without compromising bushfire safety and can reduce the impact of bushfire.
The Fire Wise Learning Hub provides a single port of call for those interested in Fire Wise practices by engaging and collaborating with the relevant scientific community, agencies, community members and local groups.
Collaborating 4 Inclusion is a website dedicated to cross sector collaboration to develop Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction in Australia.
You can learn about their latest projects, resources and activities here, https://collaborating4inclusion.org/
or follow their Facebook page to keep up to date on activities https://www.facebook.com/disabilitynaturaldisasterstudy/
This free online tool helps you:
It’s free, takes around 20 minutes, and is backed by decades of expert research.
Learn more and access the app: https://resiliencerating.org
Watch a video about the science behind the Rating - featuring Ian Bennetts (Structural Engineer) and Vince Dowling (former CSIRO Fire Research Scientist): https://vimeo.com/888924326?share=copy
The Bushfire Best Practice Guide offers a range of advice on building and retrofitting for bushfire protection. The Guide describes the relationship between bushfire risk management and residential building and landscape design.
https://research.csiro.au/bushfire
Learn how to retrofit an established building to improve its bushfire resilience.
A building’s bushfire resilience is only as good as its weakest element. Therefore, when thinking about the benefits of retrofitting it is important to understand how extensive the entire list of retrofits that may be required and whether their is sufficient budget to tackle the whole list.
https://research.csiro.au/bushfire/retrofits
To help combat the impacts of bushfires in Queensland, the Queensland Government has partnered with the CSIRO to develop guidelines that can help improve the bushfire resilience of new and existing homes.
Bushfire Resilient Building Guidance for Queensland Homes provide information on best-practice building and landscaping measures that use tailored, site-specific solutions to adapt buildings for bushfire resilience.
The Resilience Canopy is a national not-for-profit that supports communities to lead local resilience-building efforts in the face of disruption and disaster. Working alongside local leaders, practitioners, and organisations, it supports realisation of community-identified priorities, growing networks of support, and building long-term capacity from the ground up.
At its core, The Resilience Canopy is grounded in the belief that resilience is about empowerment, the recognition that communities possess the wisdom, creativity, and strength to address their own challenges when supported to lead in ways that matter most to them. Learn more and ways to get involved at https://www.resiliencecanopy.com.au
Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) research has found that compared with producers who are unprepared, those who have a farm fire plan and appropriate equipment and training lose fewer livestock or suffer less infrastructure damage and can get back to business sooner after a fire.
Here you can find resources to help you prepare for bushfire season, learn what to do during a fire and resources to assist with bushfire recovery
