A media release from the Australian Building Codes Board….
NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR BUSHFIRE
BUNKERS
The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB)* will begin work immediately on a
national standard for the design and construction of bushfire bunkers for personal use.
Announcing the decision today, ABCB Chairman Mr Graham Huxley AM said the
ABCB concurred with 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission’s intention to
bring forward as a matter of urgency interim recommendations on building regulation
matters, including the regulation of bushfire bunkers.
“If government is to adopt policies that encourage voluntary construction of bunkers
by individuals, or mandate their use in bushfire prone areas, it will first need a robust
set of performance standards to draw on,” Mr Huxley said.
“The ABCB, as the custodian of the Building Code of Australia (BCA)*, is well
placed to facilitate the timely development of the performance standards. It will also
classify bunkers as a structure according to the BCA.
“The ABCB has followed closely evidence tendered to the Commission. It is also
aware of community concerns, which it shares, about the lack of national standards
for bunkers at a time of heightened anxiety about the risk of further bushfires.”
Mr Huxley said the ABCB will begin its work supported by the work already done by
the Victorian Building Commission.
The Victorian Minister for Planning, Mr Justin Madden MLC, had taken the initiative
to alert the ABCB to the desirability of national standards and for the Board to take a
leadership role. While the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission was dealing
comprehensively with these and wider issues, it was nonetheless important for
governments to explore opportunities to increase the safety of communities at risk of
bushfires.
National action using sound technical and BCA regulatory principles will provide all
States and Territories with the essential platform to act quickly.
“The ABCB will draw on a wide range of expertise including Californian fire
authorities, who are the only other authorities in the world that have bushfire-related
building standards,” Mr Huxley said. “It will also look to other applications of bunker
technology across the globe. In that regard, the Board today uploaded on to its website
a paper by a senior US specialist in bushfire mitigation, Mr Jon Traw, on international
comparisons of bushfire standards.
“The ABCB recognises that a number of policy issues need to be resolved, and the
views of the Royal Commission taken into consideration when available. A wide
range of challenges face designers of such bunkers, including protection against heat
and flame, the need to maintain tenable air quality and a means to communicate with
the outside world.
“Without technical standards some products and building materials used to construct
bunkers could be dangerous.”
Mr Huxley said the ABCB fully appreciated that bunkers are not a stand alone
solution. Building standards needed to be part of a wider set of measures to deal with
the mitigation of bushfire risk, including effective coordination of efforts by
authorities and communities, prediction of fire spread, better education of home
owners, clarity in community notification procedures and sound planning and fuel
management strategies.
Nevertheless, fire can be unpredictable. Help from the fire defence effort may not be
available to individuals. As the Royal Commission heard, even the best prepared still
lost their lives in some cases. Bushfire bunkers, therefore, may offer a place of last
refuge in cases where the only other option would be to leave late with all the
attendant risks that entails.
The ABCB expects that the standards will be available for use in six months.
[...] Syndicated from Warrandyte Chat October 8th, 2009 | Category: Contributors [...]