In Australia, an architect designed a house to withstand wildfires

Firefighting installations

The house has a concrete slab and structure, and is covered with a fire-resistant magnesium oxide panel. There is also a small amount of fuel in the surrounding woods. In fact, “The terrain near the house is minimal. The windows have a very high level of resistance to radiant heat“Shutters have been installed to further reduce the heat and protect the windows from volcanic eruptions and potential debris, and a heat recovery system filters smoke from wildfires,” he said.

For all these protections, the property includes rainwater tanks with a capacity of 30,000 liters. Finally, in the event of a power outage and a breakdown in the cell phone network, the family is armed with satellite coverage to continue receiving information about the fire. The family can remotely close some firewalls using this system.

Architect and volunteer firefighter, double cap

“The house must be able to withstand the most terrible fire storms“¸ He adds that to protect his family from being trapped inside, Australia has the highest protection of the wildfire protection label and the windows that can withstand about thirty minutes of direct attack on its structure can certainly be damaged but during the wildfires of 2019-2020 the system of four wildfire villas Not at all.

“My wife and I were recruited as volunteer firefighters in the local regiment. In the event of a fire, we will protect the surrounding houses, while ours will protect itself. This is often a possible scenario. Of course, your home is always a safe place before a fire breaks out. But if we were there, we would lock the house and wait inside until the fire goes out in front of the house, then go outside and put out the fire around the property.“If the road to their home is blocked, the family has created a series of routes.

Relatively high costs

This is the first time the architect has worked to design a villa capable of withstanding such extreme fire conditions. “Before offering this type of home to our clients, I need to know how to design this type of construction against fire and test it in my own home. Today we work in many homes based on knowledge.”

New homeowners have more options because of the design rules, technology and equipment available. If this type of construction is expensive [celle de Simon Anderson s’élève à 750.000 dollars australiens, soit environ 462.000 euros], Australians are imagining different ways to use these firefighting measures. Perforated sliding windows on the west faade protect the home from fire, but can also be used as sun shade in the summer. As for the roof of the porch, “When folded, it acts as a fire shutter for nearby windows“.