• Safe access to the building.
• Adequate sanitary facilities.
• Provision for looking the external environment.
• Safe egress from the building.
• Provision for identification of such a structure by suitable sign board.

Before installing such a structure, the persons responsible for such installation must specify,

• The maximum number of people that it can accommodate and the duration of maximum stay.
• Actions to which the building may be subjected.
• The possible effect of buildings, vegetation and topography in the vicinity.
• The effect of external fire intensity.
• The prevention of unpleasant experiences within the structure during a fire.

There are too many backyard amateur Fire Bunkers out there that can easily be death traps, said Craig Morrison from Fire Proof Shelters, Australia’s leading Fire Bunker Designer and manufacturer!

Here is an excerpt from the latest Bushfires Royal Commission recommendations.

Dewi Cooke
September 22, 2009 – 12:00AM

VICTORIANS could soon have access to the first regulations for fire bunkers after a decision by the Bushfires Royal Commission to release interim recommendations on their use.

Commission chairman Bernard Teague said yesterday that following three weeks of evidence investigating bunkers and home-building standards in bushfire-prone areas, it was clear that certain matters ”cannot wait” for the commission to conclude its work next July.

He said commissioners would deliver interim recommendations regarding regulations for bushfire bunkers, some aspects of the new AS3959 building standard and the need for a revision of the Standards Australia handbook for building in bushfire-prone areas.

In evidence last month, the commission was told there was no standard for in-ground bunkers but they were urgently needed amid concerns from Victorian Building Commissioner Tony Arnel that people were rushing to install them without technical knowledge.

Mr Arnel said he had directed Victoria’s Building Regulations Advisory Committee to develop an accreditation criteria for pre-fabricated bunkers and estimated that Standards Australia could develop a standard within six months.

But he said it would also be possible for the royal commission to make a finding that criteria for bunkers be rolled into existing national building regulations, as a way of fast-tracking the process.

One of the most important decisions that you’ll have to make is where to install the Fire Shelter on your property. The important things to consider are; making sure it is away from buildings or structures that may potentially collapse over the exit making it hazardous to get out, and do you have an underground fire shelter?

If possible you want to install your Fire Shelter as near to the house as you can, yet keeping it far enough away to prevent any debris falling on top, this also includes keeping away from large trees where possible, and if not, clearing or trimming trees.

Underground is the best place for your Fire Shelter! A properly built and installed underground Fire Shelter is an excellent way to improve your chances for survival from extreme radiant heat. Underground Fire Shelters are built with the utmost of care and with long term multi-hazard protection in mind no matter what scenario one would be preparing for. Modern heavy duty steel reinforced underground Fire Shelters such as Fire Proof Shelters are air tight, water tight and smoke proof.

As more information about the bushfires became available so too did amazing stories of survival, including people who had taken refuge in some sort of bunker. Professor Keith Crews of the University of Technology in Sydney believes that concrete underground Fire Shelters could help save lives. Professor Crews says they would need to be around 500mm underground, because above ground even reinforced concrete would be likely to explode in the ferocity of fires recently experienced on Black Saturday.

In an underground Fire Shelter the earth would act as an insulator from the heat, and there’s no fuel for the fire. Professor Crews says that underground Fire Shelters could be the answer to protecting people from fires like those Victoria has just witnessed. “You would need something that is essentially underground because of the insulating quality of the earth,” he said. “Obviously you would need something over the top of that that’s quite well protected.

Underground Fire Shelters can be Top or Side Entry!

Underground fire shelters that are designed and supplied by Fire Proof Shelters come in both Top and Side entry to cater for everyone and their individual preferences!

“The next issue that I think you would have to consider is oxygen or air because when you get a fire storm like that it’s got a tendency to suck up all the air that’s there.” Professor Crews says the earth would act as a natural insulator from the heat of the fire and the underground Fire Shelter would not need to be too deep. “The earth is a great insulator. Obviously you would have to give consideration to groundwater and all those issues, but I would assume that something like two to 2.5 metres, so essentially it was like a basement,” he said.

Underground Fire Shelters could be the answer to protecting people from fires because of the insulating qualities for the earth. The earth is an excellent dielectric and setting the Fire Shelter at least 300-900mm underground offers multiple times the insulation factor and fire rating of the Concrete structure.

Most bush fires sustain their maximum radiant heat for less than 30 -40 minutes providing the fire bunker is placed away form heavy growth. This means that the Fire Shelters cannot heat up excessively and you have plenty of air. The earth would act as a natural insulator from the heat of the fire and the underground Fire Shelter would not need to be too deep. Underground Fire Shelters are designed and engineered to save you and your families life in the event of a bush fire.

Fire Proof Shelters are the Answer!

The reinforced concrete tanks have been developed over the last 22 years and represent the highest of build quality and structural integrity. Underground Fire Proof Shelters are a purpose built Bush Fire Shelter that is professionally constructed from ultra high-grade high-density reinforced concrete employing components that are fully fire rated to 3 hours.

“Our commitment is to giving every country household the opportunity to have a safe haven for the family”States Craig Morrison from Fire Proof Shelters.

You will be ensured an extraordinarily effective safeguard against the radiant heat of bushfires, because underground Fire Shelters – is the best installation!

Bushfires produce copious quantities of smoke that often disperses over long distances depending on the climatic conditions, topography and vegetation sources. As a result, smoke may affect human communities that are not directly threatened by bushfire or impacted by prescribed burning.

The presence of greater numbers of people living in or near the bush has increased the size of the at-risk population in the event of a bushfire. The population health impacts associated with smoke from bushfires are not well defined but are thought to have possible adverse effects on respiratory and cardiovascular systems and are therefore important considerations for public health, and for emergency and environmental agencies.

Smoke produced during bushfires or prescribed burning contains a complex mixture of particulate matter, water vapour and gases, many of which are known to be air pollutants or greenhouse gases. Particulate matter results from incomplete combustion of vegetation and varies in concentration, composition and size distribution.

The symptoms of smoke effects

Fine particles and gases can accumulate in the eyes, nose and lungs and cause a number of health problems including burning or itchy eyes, runny nose, sore throat, headache and general coughing. People with heart disease might experience chest pain, palpitations, and shortness of breath or fatigue. People with lung disease may not be able to breathe easily, deeply or vigorously and may develop symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, phlegm and chest discomfort.

With all the research Fire Proof Shelters has been conducting, many people are falsly under the impression a smaller Fire shelter is adequate to protect them! Unfortunately this is not the case. There a many sub standard Fire Shelters/Fire Bunkers on the market that are very missleading in the amaout of available breathing time. They don’t allow for the adverse effect CO2 expiation has on people in an air tight space and effectively reduces the REAL breathing time down dramatically!

Find out why Fire proof Shelters design is offen twice the size of most other fire shelters! Call 03 9444 1555 to find out more.

The new fireproof shelter double fire door system is based on a side entry model that is installed under the ground with an access tunnel to the fire shelter that has to world-class fully rated fireproof doors at each end. This fire bunker design sets a completely new standard in fire shelters and offers the highest degree of protection against the most intense bushfires and radiant heat, giving you an amazing amount of protection allowing you to be over 2 m away from the outside fire door.

Couple together with the fact that fire proof shelters has the largest volume fire shelters on the market, people who live in high fire risk areas can now rest assured that a solution to cater for the most intense bushfires regardless of the environment, is now available through fire proof shelters.

Call Craig on 0394441555 for more information about the revolutionary new fireproof shelter

Now that the bushfire season is fast approaching many people are considering installing fire shelters as the ultimate means of protection against bushfires, particularly in those high risk fire prone areas as indicated recently. There are a few fire shelters and fire bunkers on the market however most are fairly small and many people are asking about installing a large fire shelter to cater for more people and to reduce the anxiety of confined spaces and to increase the amount of oxygen and air available.

Fire proof shelters have introduced a much larger shelter to cater for people who want a large fire bunker particularly if you have a large family and the large fireproof shelter caters for up to 10 – 12 people for approximately 3 hours of comfortable breathing time.

A mistake many people make when judging the amount of available air in enclosed space like a fire shelter used to make an allowance for people who are under duress and breathe much more quickly than normal and also body-mass takes away volume of air.

Is extremely important to make sure that you have a lot more air than is required, some areas on Black Saturday remained dangerous for up to 2 hours which meant you would have to stay in your fire shelter or fire bunker for up to 2 hours, even though this may be a rare occasion there is no guarantee it won’t happen to you.

Call us to find out about our new range of fire shelters on 03 9444 1555

The Liberal Member for McEwan, Fran Bailey, says each school needs to have a fire shelter to protect students and residents during future blazes.

“Back in 1988, I have discovered, that the Victorian Education Department had a plan to build 72 of … what I call a community and school safe shelter,” she said. “Only one has ever been built. We’ve got to do better than that.” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the Government will examine the issue.

Ms Bailey also asked the Government to ensure the state governments and local councils reduce the fuel load in the bush. Ms Bailey told Mr. Rudd he should put conditions on the millions of dollars that goes to the state and local governments for roads. “I’m going to suggest here today that we tie that funding to fuel reduction programs because unless we do something, nothing will be done,” she said. Mr. Rudd told Ms Bailey that he will work with her on all the issues she raised.

So far it looks like there will be no resolution on Fire Bunkers and Australian standards to apply to them, at least for this upcoming Bushfire season!

The only company that has continually gone to great lengths to ensure all the major components on their Bushfire Bunker are Fully Fire Rated and Comply with Australian standards is Fire Proof Shelters.

Once a fire starts, wind and other weather conditions affect its intensity, direction and the speed at which it spreads. Conditions can change rapidly, making bushfire behavior difficult to predict and highlighting the importance of having a bushfire survival plan.

A report by the Climate Institute, Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO in September 2007 said that Australian fire-fighters face a future of extended and more extreme bushfire weather seasons if Australian and world leaders fail to act urgently to cut greenhouse pollution. While these fears have been echoed by others around the world, many experts are hesitant to link individual weather and extreme events so conclusively to climate change. What they will say is that it makes it more likely. Given this, Black Saturday may have given us a frightening preview of more frequent and more severe fires with very little warning time for people to escape.

Here is a recap of the Bushfires Royal Commission’s objective.

The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission was established on 16 February to investigate the causes and responses to the bushfires which swept through parts of Victoria in late January and February 2009. The Commission will deliver an Interim Report by 17 August 2009. A Final Report is due July 2010. The Commission is chaired by the Hon. Bernard Teague AO, supported by Commissioners Ron McLeod AM and Susan Pascoe AM.

The Commission’s first priority was to meet and listen to people directly affected by the fires. Between 18 March 2009 and 9 April 2009 the Commission held 26 Community Consultations in 14 fire affected locations attended by 1256 local people. The sessions were professionally facilitated and counseling support was available. Scribes captured small group discussions and plenary reporting was videotaped for the use of the Royal Commission.

The Community Consultations were an important foundation for the work of the Commission. They helped to identify key issues and themes and have been of great assistance to the Commission. The local knowledge and wisdom of fire affected individuals and communities was heard by the three Commissioners in relation to:

-         The impact and severity of the fires;

-         What worked well to prepare the affected communities;

-         What could be done better in the future.

Beginning their work in bushfire affected communities enabled the Commission to hear first hand about people’s experiences and gain valuable insights into how individuals and groups understood and responded to current policies and programs. Following the Community Consultations, the Commission interviewed a substantial number of people directly affected by the fires. Many of these people have agreed to appear as witnesses in the Hearings.

There’s no doubt the Bushfire season will be upon us well before important changes are made, it’s up to all of us to heed the warnings and be prepared, if there is any chance you will be home during the Fire prone days, you must consider an underground safety shelter or Fire Shelter to escape the deadly radiant heat and smoke. The families who have this protection will have the best life insurance you can get in a bushfire season!

In conjunction with a World leading Fire Equipment manufacturer, Fire Proof  Shelters have designed a fully Rated, Australian Standards Fire Door for the main entry into the newly designed large size fire bunker.

“These new Fire Doors provide a new level of safety and security for the Australian people in Fire prone areas, we now have all Major components fire rated” said Andrew, one of the key people behind the new design!

One of the other major improvements is a much larger standard size Fire Shelter, measuring 2.5m height x 2.4m diameter internal dimensions. This generous size offers far more safety and peace of mind for families over the budget small shelters!