Schools, libraries and gyms can be converted into Clean Air Refuges during bushfire smoke events. But can your home? In many cases, we think the answer is YES.
Perhaps as many as 8 million Australian homes were exposed to smoke in the 2019-20 fire season, and in most cases that smoke will have made its way into every room. That event was extreme, but even this summer around 100,000 homes have likely been impacted in Victoria alone.
We’ve been developing some prototype guidance for householders and homeowners to help them prepare and protect their home. You can download our guidance here. We received support from the NSW Government for this work.
Our key message is to not worry about achieving perfection – that doing something is nearly always better than doing nothing – partial protection is better than none at all.
There are also three basic “tools” you can use which work best when combined together:
- Improving the “seal” – making sure windows close fully, and blocking off other ways for the smoke to get in. Our guidance has some ideas you might not have thought of.
- Filtration – some smoke will still get in, so you need to remove it as much as you can. Filtration appliances are remarkably effective at this, but knowing what size you need and where to put it really helps to make the most of them.
- Monitoring – air monitors are becoming easier to buy, but it helps to know how to use them to check your set up should work, and guide your actions when the smoke comes.
Our report goes further in providing suggestions on how government agencies and the private sector can work together to improve community resilience in the face of a risk that is not going away.
We are now busy developing systems that can deliver complete “Clean Air Spaces” for homes as a package. We’d be delighted to hear from you if you’re in government, in an aligned business, or just a householder who’d like to see bushfire protection for homes rolled out in your area.
