Division of
[Preprint Research,
A Survey of Houses Affected in
By G. J. Barrow.*
Summary. To determine the influence of 1. Introduction. On (i) Small four- or five-room houses of varying (ii) Large homes constructed either The fire destroyed 58 houses and damaged __________________________________________________________________________________ * An officer of the Division of Forest C.12539/44. Approximately 100 houses were The number of persons interviewed The gathering of the data for the 2. Location of the Fire. The fire occurred The main fire area south of In attempting to retain the Scrub fires in this area have been As will be seen from Map 2, the fire burnt over both scrub land and grass The fares were fought by personnel About 208 houses in the area were
3. Conditions Leading up to the Meteorological data for the day of Conditions prior to and during the
4. Extent of Damage and The location of the houses in the For convenience in locating the The extent of the damage in
Table 1. – Number of Affected Houses in Relation
2. Statistical LEGEND.- W – weatherboard. W/B – weatherboard with brick CS/W – timber frame with CS – fibro-cement sheet over ACL/W – timber frame with B – brick V – brick veneer C – concrete block or slab It must also be noted that the brick, brick 5. Observations. Points of particular interest are illustrated by the Detailed records of the construction, surroundings, point of The use of ½-in. (12 mm) mesh wire netting as a
Table 2.––House construction and extent of damage
Flywire proved in a number of cases to be an Both hessian Wall ventilators and air vents Houses with eaves either boxed with Fibro-cement sheets were found to Several fires became uncontrollable Badly fitting There were several cases of roof Compared with that of sealing a tile roof Throughout the fire several houses were seen to ignite In a number of cases the proximity of high trees, preceded by In the case of unattended houses (where fire fighting was Evidence obtained during the survey indicates that there is no This process of the fire chopping about in several directions
6. Conclusions. The survey showed that, in a fire of the type that swept Beaumaris, the chances of a house surviving are In the two exceptions referred to previously, the houses Experience at Beaumaris showed Badly fitting These simple precautions greatly increase the resistance of a
7. Recommendations. The adoption of the following recommendations in areas where 1.. In timber houses, the walls 2. All vents should be of the woven wire type or else covered 3. Large ventilators in gable ends should be eliminated and 4. Eaves should preferably be completely boxed, but if left 5. Badly fitting 6. The space under the corrugations of corrugated roofing 7. Fly-wire window-screi6na and doors are beneficial. 8. Trees and shrubs should be kept clear of the walls. 9. Stacks of fuel should be well clear of the walls or stored APPENDIX Weather conditions in (Compiled from data supplied by the Note: The S.I. Units of measurement shown
(1) CONDITIONS FOR SIX MONTHS ENDING
(2) CONDITIONS FROM JANUARY 1 TO
(3) CONDITIONS ON
(a) Maximum “Clear at first,
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A copy of this report with the original Order by sending
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