Reduce bushfire risk around your home
Protect your home from bushfire
Firewise landscapes help protect a home in a bushfire by resisting ember attack and fire creep; and by planting the right plants homeowners can maintain a cool, vegetated landscape.
We can support you to create a Bay OK FireWise garden. Whether you are starting from scratch or re-designing an existing garden, we can help!
Our Bay OK garden principles of minimising nutrient runoff, conserving water and supporting local biodiversity can be adapted and applied to making your property safer in the event of a bushfire.
Marri Drive, Dunsborough WA 6281
Designed and installed by The Forever Project, this demonstration garden shows homeowners how to design and install a FireWise landscape. The garden was put to the test during the Dunsborough bushfire in February 2025 and passed with flying colours, with no damage done even as the fire reached the garden’s borders.
The garden features signage displaying eleven tips on how to make your property safe in the event of a bushfire and stresses the importance of planning a garden that can withstand a bushfire.
Having a walk around the FireWise demonstration on Marri Drive in Dunsborough is well worth a visit!
Supported by City of Busselton, Department of Fire and Emergency Services and The Forever Project through funding from Australian Government National Emergency Agency
The use of wetting agents and rough coarse rock mulch will make sure your plants get all the water that is needed. Having well ‘hydrated’ plants means that the plants are less likely to burn.
It is the stuff like dry leaves, small twigs and tall dead grass that are by far the most flammable and dangerous, so don’t let them build up.
Fire is pretty lazy! If it has an easy tangle of branches to get into the tree canopy it becomes very dangerous. So, remember to remove your lower branches and keep them at least 2m back from your roof and walls.
Remember these nasty little orange sparks only need a gap of 3mm wide to get in and potentially destroy your home. So remember – plug those gaps!
If you can just stop leaves from filling your gutters you will do a huge amount to make your home more ‘FireWise’
Did you know a carefully designed and managed ‘FireWise’ garden can have a significant impact on making your home safer and more ‘FireWise’.
Look for products that have the Australian Standard AS 3959-2018, Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas. These are products proven to be the most FireWise for your home.
Remember that dry ‘standing’ (upright) fuels are much more dangerous than flattened fuels. So don’t forget to mow, slash, mulch and or remove these ‘fuels’ to be ‘FireWise’ in your garden.
Did you know that stone, rocks and gravels (preferably recycled) are much safer mulch options against ember attack in high fire risk areas. So rock on for a ‘FireWise’ garden.
Gaps between plants and gaps between the ground and the lowest foliage will help stop the spread of any bushfire near your home.
View more useful resources on The Forever Project’s website.
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