The Built Environment
There are several historical fires in Australia that have lead to increased interested and research on building performance during a bushfire (For a review of historical fires and subsequent research see Leonard 1999). Of particular importance to building performance advancements was the 1944 bushfire in Baumaris, Victoria. The Beaumaris bushfire destroyed 58 homes and damaged eight others. Following this conflagration, the first scientific study of building damage was initiated by George Barrow (1945) from the Forest Products lab at CSIR. Barrow surveyed 100 houses affected by the bushfire and selected 17 representative homes for a detailed study of their construction and bushfire resistance. The conclusions of this study were that building survival was most affected by the details of construction and less by the building's materials. Barrow's research found that almost all the destructive fires in the Beaumaris fire began inside the house by air-born burning debris entering through openings in the building. Due to these findings, several building suggestions were made to reduce the fire hazard of a home. Such recommendations included; covering ventilators with wire mesh, enclosing eaves and under floor spaces, and clearing wood piles and brush from the walls (Barrow 1945).
Barrow's work on the Beaumaris fire is significant in two ways; 1) it did not support existing knowledge of how a building ignited and 2) it was the first scientific study of building performance (Leonard 1999). Unfortunately, the important lessons that could have been learned from Barrow's work went unnoticed and subsequent fires destroyed many houses in Australia (Leonard 1999). Perhaps the most important lesson that can be taken from Barrow's work is that scientific research, even published work, needs to have a means to reach the public and enter into policy (Leonard 1999).
Continued research on building performance during a bushfire has lead to information about how buildings ignite, structure design and materials that increase risk of ignition, and of human behavior (Leonard and Bowditch 2003).
For further information on building performance and research in Australia, please see (searchable bibliography coming soon):
Barrow, G. J. (1945). A survey of houses affected in the Beaumaris Fire, January 14, 1944. Journal of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Vol. 18(No. 1).
Leonard, J. E. and N. A. McArthur (1999). A history of research into building performance in Australian bushfires. Australian Bushfire Conference Proceedings.
Leonard, JE and P.A. Bowditch (2003). Findings of Studies of Houses Damaged by Bushfire in Australia, 3rd International Wildland Fire Conference.