Top tips to make your garden bushfire ready

With bushfire season upon us, now is the time to do everything we can to help protect our homes.

Paul Ryan from The Department of Fire and Emergency Services gives advice for limiting the threat.

Top tips to make your garden bushfire ready

• Cut long grass and prune dense scrub
• Rake up leaf litter, twigs, bark and other material that may catch fire
• Maintain a two-metre gap between your house and tree branches – ensure no tree branches hang over your house
• Prune low tree branches to two metres high to stop a fire spreading to tree canopies
• Don’t clump shrubs together or plant them under trees
• Use non-combustible, moveable containers and pots that can be relocated in summer
• Avoid using flammable mulches. Alternatives include gravel, pebbles, shells or recycled crushed bricks
• Create a mineral earth firebreak
• Locate farm machinery, sheds, wood and chemicals well away from your home
• Plan your garden so your vegetable patch, lawn, paths or pool are on the side of the house that is most likely to face a fire (where bush is).
• Lay paving and driveways to maximise protection to your house
• Use non-combustible solid or slatted fencing to help shield your home from flames and radiant heat

What plants are most flammable?

Some plants are more flammable than others but all plants – living and dead – can provide fuel for a bushfire.

Plants with high amounts of resins, waxes, or oils should be limited such as rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, paperbark, tea trees and pine trees

Top 10 Perth suburbs most targeted from bushfires in 2016/2017

• Armadale
• Gidgegannup
• Baldivis
• Clarkson
• Canning Vale
• Yanchep
• Gosnells
• Murdoch
• Welshpool
• Mandurah