After a deadly record-breaking northern hemisphere fire season, the Resilient Building Council says Australia must do things differently, starting now.
Now, there is a new, world-first app that places decades of science and research into people’s hands so that they can take the actions that matter to protect their homes and their families.
TheBushfire Resilience Rating Home Self-Assessment app allows people to assess their home and measure how well it would perform in a bushfire event.
It also provides households with a customised action plan, specific to their individual property and local risk. As tasks are completed, the home’s Resilience Rating is updated.
Over 1,200 households from bushfire impacted areas across Australia helped co-design and test the app, prior to its national launch. Participants undertook recommended actions that resulted in an average 67% reduction in the likelihood of their home igniting in a bushfire.
The science and support behind the app
The app is based around a world-first Bushfire Resilience Rating system developed by Australia’s leading researchers and engineers through a collaboration led by the Resilient Building Council (RBC).
It is the first scientific system to measure the bushfire resilience of homes. It takes a best-practice and holistic approach to bushfire resilience that covers building construction methods and materials, landscaping and ongoing maintenance.
The Resilience Ratings system was developed in response to calls from governments, insurers, banks, households, and the 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, to understand which actions measurably increase the resilience of individual homes.
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