IRDR Australia publication on “Capturing Community Bushfire Experience”

The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC has produced a summary of findings from seven post-fire studies conducted across southern Australia over the last decade. The studies looked closely at how communities understood their hazard risk, how they planned and prepared for a possible bushfire, and how they responded to a serious bushfire event.

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The studies were conducted at the request of fire agencies in those states, and their purpose was to inform agencies about how residents understood bushfire risk, planned and prepared for a possible bushfire, and responded to a serious bushfire event.

Key findings show that a significant percentage of residents interviewed did not believe that they were at-risk and neither planned nor prepared for a possible bushfire, and that only 5% of the 1760 people interviewed had a written bushfire survival plan.

Download: Capturing community bushfire readiness: Post-bushfire interview studies 2009 – 2014