\u201cI felt annoyed that all of the knowledge we have on bushfire behaviour, the research and technology at our disposal haven\u2019t been exploited. At least they\u2019ve prompted a serious look at bushfires and have provided critical data.<\/p>\n
\u201cBushfires will finally start getting the respect they deserve as Australia\u2019s most devastating natural disaster.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Bushfires do play important roles in Australia\u2019s ecosystems, but they are occurring with more frequency and intensity as the planet continues to warm. The recent \u2018bushfire royal commission<\/a>\u2019 stated that current disaster management strategies will be ineffective in the face of increasingly devastating fire weather, such as record high temperatures, dryness and reduced rainfall. Moreover, the royal commission revealed that 90 per cent of homes in bushfire prone areas were not built to withstand fires.<\/p>\n
Build BAL-wise<\/h2>\n
This is where Mastrangelo comes in \u2013 he prepares bushfire management plans for subdivision and land development applications, which include a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) assessment. BAL measures a building\u2019s potential exposure to ember attack, radiant heat and direct flame contact.<\/p>\n
\u201cBAL takes into account how far you are from a certain class of vegetation and what building materials and methods you therefore need when constructing a property,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aim is to be constructing your development within BAL-29 or lower. With a lot of these new developments in Perth and along the Swan coastal plain, your aim is to reduce the risk of your house igniting through separation from the bush and upping the specs of your house so you don\u2019t have combustible materials facing the vegetation.\u201d<\/p>\n
A BAL assessment assigns your proposed property one of six ratings for fire risk. Credit: Strategen-JBS&G<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n While BAL assessments form part of the Australian Standards for building construction, Mastrangelo says buildings aren\u2019t always up to code, and there is a knowledge gap when it comes to homeowners\/occupiers grasping the real threat that bushfires pose.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are becoming more aware of the bushfire risk, but there are still \u2018tree-changers\u2019 \u2013 especially people coming from the city environment \u2013 who forget or don\u2019t understand the importance of a well maintained and prepared property in the bush.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThis problem is being exacerbated in some areas such as Busselton and Dunsborough where a large portion of properties are unoccupied or used for short-stay accommodation. When it comes to new builds, people need to take bushfire risk into consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says some of the simplest ways we can do this include following council firebreak practices, designing fire-wise gardens, attending bushfire resilience workshops and researching the wealth of information available on the internet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s really no excuse for not being prepared. If people want to live in the bush, they need to accept that there is a risk they could lose everything they have to a bushfire.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAttitudes need to change and are changing, but perhaps not quickly enough given that climate change is likely to amplify the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blue Mountains after the 2019-20 summer bush fires.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Fire management is everybody\u2019s responsibility<\/h2>\n
The Australian Federal Government intends to implement most recommendations in the royal commission\u2019s report, including the establishment of a natural disaster management agency, and the power to declare a national state of emergency.<\/p>\n
Mastrangelo supports other findings of the report, such as the need for local government and industry to better communicate the risk of fire to prospective property buyers and more carefully consider disaster risk in future land use planning. He suggests insurance companies will likely lead the way in this step-change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the insurance industry will undergo the most growth in the near future. Premiums will increase for people living in bushfire prone areas and insurers will prepare policies with more bushfire-specific details.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about the report\u2019s recommendation to acknowledge the role of cultural burning<\/a> (the way Indigenous Australians manage landscapes) in mitigating large-scale bushfires, Mastrangelo says we need to be clear about its capabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cCultural burning strategies won\u2019t prevent bushfires, and that shouldn\u2019t be the aim. The role of cultural burning is threefold: to provide a vehicle to get fire back into the landscape to improve the health of the bush; to get Indigenous people on Country and connect them to their roots; and to reduce fuels to make bushfires more manageable when they do occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
Go bush<\/h2>\n
The Australian environment is a mercurial force: both welcoming and unforgiving, and though we may use it and benefit from it, we should never assume we can fully control it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe in it, understand it and appreciate it,\u201d Mastrangelo advises.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means not being complacent or ignorant when living in a bushfire prone area. A stint in the local bushfire brigade, volunteering with conservation groups and attending educational workshops are all fulfilling and rewarding ways to improve respect for the Australian environment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meet the geography grad helping homeowners understand the risk of living close to the Australian bush, and what they can do to be better prepared for bush fires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4182,"featured_media":8375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-8374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"Education ignites interest in the elements","content":"
Growing up in Bunbury, Mastrangelo first developed an interest in bushfires thanks to a passionate geography teacher who wanted to instil in his students \u201cthe importance of a sustainable future for Australia, with bushfire in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to pursue a double major in Geography<\/a> and Anthropology<\/a> at Curtin, completing extracurricular courses in bushfire assessment, permaculture, sustainability and leadership along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was interested in the way society functions and the environment. I chose Curtin because it had the most interesting geography course and was far less pretentious than other universities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most interesting aspect of the course was having my ways of thinking challenged, and from this developing a more open attitude to new information and approaching problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen this open-mindedness is paired with my real-world experiences, I feel I have a well-rounded viewpoint and opinion, which I am happy for people to challenge so that I can grow as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"Geography","qualification":"Bachelor of Arts (Geography)","link":"https:\/\/study.curtin.edu.au\/offering\/course-ug-geography-major-ba--mjru-geogr\/","description":"","faculty":"Humanities"},{"title":"Anthropology and Sociology","qualification":"Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology and Sociology)","link":"https:\/\/study.curtin.edu.au\/offering\/course-ug-anthropology-and-sociology-major-ba--mjru-antso\/","description":"","faculty":"Humanities"},{"title":"Graduate Certificate in Environment and Climate Emergency","qualification":"Graduate Certificate in Environment and Climate Emergency","link":"https:\/\/study.curtin.edu.au\/offering\/course-pg-graduate-certificate-in-environment-and-climate-emergency--gc-envclm\/","description":"","faculty":"Humanities"}],"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Brodie-Mastrangelo-feature-1-1000x500.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Zoe","last_name":"Taylor","display_name":"Zoe Taylor"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 07:20:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8374"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=8374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/BAL-rating-792x420.jpg\")
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Blue-Mountains-792x420.jpg\")