Bunker builders are spreading like wildfire in Victoria
Article from The Australian, published August 26,2009,
written by Stuart Rintoul
SINCE the devastating February bushfires in Victoria, bunker builders have begun to proliferate, each of them offering their own brand of salvation from the flames.
The websites are uniformly terrifying: flames, burned-out cars, a mother comforting her child.
"If things go drastically wrong, as has happened recently in Victoria, you will need somewhere to go to have a chance of surviving while the fury of the inferno passes," says industry newcomer Fire Safe Bunkers (patent pending) in its pitch to customers.
At Bunkers Down Under (manufacturing concrete tanks in NSW for 40 years), the website shows wreckage of burnt-out cars, with the message "Don't let this happen to you".
At Wildfire Safety Bunkers, customers are told that a bunker is "somewhere to go when there's nowhere to go".
Anthony Tratt started Wildfire two years ago. A former professional supercars driver and plumber, he spent eight years at BHP Research Laboratories in Victoria, which specialised in fire and load testing of concrete and steel products. In a prototype bunker at a farm at Keysborough, in Melbourne's southeast, he says he supports greater regulation of an industry that trades on fear.
He believes three big issues need to be resolved as bunkers gain greater popularity: minimum standards governing bunker quality and site locations, government support for public bunkers and government rebates for private bunkers in fire-prone areas.
"I've met so many people over these last couple of months that are absolutely adamant they are going to stay rather than go, in areas that are very scary," he says. "So they need to have something; they've got to have a back-up."
Mr Tratt's family bunkers cost less than $10,000 and include 100mm-thick concrete, ventilation, 7.2 cubic metres of air when sealed (enough for four adults for two hours), with a further 4.5cubic metres of air offered as an optional extra. With heavy-gauge stainless steel doors converted from US cyclone and tornado shelters to withstand bushfire temperatures, the bunkers are partly submerged under an earthen mound facing away from the most common wind direction.
They are constructed alongside a submerged water tank designed to irrigate the area around the bunker for 30 minutes after the fire front has passed and are equipped with lights, an air-circulation system, a door temperature gauge, mobile phone charger, breathing masks for use after leaving, and a survival kit.
Mr Tratt says he has discussed testing with the CSIRO, and claims his bunker will set the standard; new building standards are expected to emerge out of the bushfires royal commission.
written by Stuart Rintoul
SINCE the devastating February bushfires in Victoria, bunker builders have begun to proliferate, each of them offering their own brand of salvation from the flames.
The websites are uniformly terrifying: flames, burned-out cars, a mother comforting her child.
"If things go drastically wrong, as has happened recently in Victoria, you will need somewhere to go to have a chance of surviving while the fury of the inferno passes," says industry newcomer Fire Safe Bunkers (patent pending) in its pitch to customers.
At Bunkers Down Under (manufacturing concrete tanks in NSW for 40 years), the website shows wreckage of burnt-out cars, with the message "Don't let this happen to you".
At Wildfire Safety Bunkers, customers are told that a bunker is "somewhere to go when there's nowhere to go".
Anthony Tratt started Wildfire two years ago. A former professional supercars driver and plumber, he spent eight years at BHP Research Laboratories in Victoria, which specialised in fire and load testing of concrete and steel products. In a prototype bunker at a farm at Keysborough, in Melbourne's southeast, he says he supports greater regulation of an industry that trades on fear.
He believes three big issues need to be resolved as bunkers gain greater popularity: minimum standards governing bunker quality and site locations, government support for public bunkers and government rebates for private bunkers in fire-prone areas.
"I've met so many people over these last couple of months that are absolutely adamant they are going to stay rather than go, in areas that are very scary," he says. "So they need to have something; they've got to have a back-up."
Mr Tratt's family bunkers cost less than $10,000 and include 100mm-thick concrete, ventilation, 7.2 cubic metres of air when sealed (enough for four adults for two hours), with a further 4.5cubic metres of air offered as an optional extra. With heavy-gauge stainless steel doors converted from US cyclone and tornado shelters to withstand bushfire temperatures, the bunkers are partly submerged under an earthen mound facing away from the most common wind direction.
They are constructed alongside a submerged water tank designed to irrigate the area around the bunker for 30 minutes after the fire front has passed and are equipped with lights, an air-circulation system, a door temperature gauge, mobile phone charger, breathing masks for use after leaving, and a survival kit.
Mr Tratt says he has discussed testing with the CSIRO, and claims his bunker will set the standard; new building standards are expected to emerge out of the bushfires royal commission.
posted by Wildfire Safety Bunkers at
6:18 PM
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