Is your property ready to withstand a bushfire? Each summer, firefighters across the South West prepare to face the sobering prospect of wildfire in rural and urban bushland areas and homeowners wonder what they can do to make their properties safer and more likely to withstand the onslaught of a wildfire. With our drying climate and increasing risk of bushfires, fire resilience and adaption is a key issue for the outskirts of our towns and rural areas. So what can you do to make sure your home as safe as possible?
GeoCatch, in partnership with Dunsborough Fire Station, have been shortlisted in the City of Busselton’s ‘You Choose’ funding program to establish a FireWise demonstration garden. The proposed demonstration garden will be established at the Dunsborough Fire Station in Marri Drive to help homeowners prepare for bushfires by sharing good practices in FireWise garden design.
Part of this initiative includes a community workshop with author and sustainability expert Chris Ferreira, The Forever Project, featuring the installation of the FireWise garden. The installation workshop will demonstrate how homeowners can design and install a FireWise landscape of their own. The garden will also be used to promote fire safety and support Bushfire Ready – a community-led program that encourages residents to plan and prepare for bushfires by working together.
Bay OK Gardens project officer Lisa Massey explains the importance of planning a garden that can withstand a bushfire. “FireWise gardens are designed to not only be a beautiful setting for our houses, but by planting the right plants, we can help protect our home in a bushfire.”
“These landscapes can effectively resist ember attack and fire creep while maintaining a cool, vegetated landscape. They are beautiful and also waterwise,” said Lisa.
GeoCatch is asking readers to help make our community more resilient to bushfires by voting for this project. Even if you are not in a bushfire-prone area, you can help by submitting your preferences online. The voting link and details of another of GeoCatch’s innovative projects ‘Save our Snake-Neck Turtles’ can be found at https://yoursay.busselton.wa.gov.au/you-choose
The Bay OK project regularly holds workshops to promote actions that protect Geographe Bay and the waterways and tributaries that flow into it. More information on Bay OK gardening and event announcements can be found at geocatch.asn.au.
The Bay OK gardens project is jointly supported by Royalties for Region’s Healthy Estuaries WA and Revitalising Geographe Waterways programs. These State Government initiatives aim to support the long-term health of our south-west estuaries.
