The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC has produced a summary of findings from seven post-fire studies conducted across southern Australia over the last decade. The studies looked closely at how communities understood their hazard risk, how they planned and prepared for a possible bushfire, and how they responded to a serious bushfire event.

The studies were conducted at the request of fire agencies in those states, and their purpose was to inform agencies about how residents understood bushfire risk, planned and prepared for a possible bushfire, and responded to a serious bushfire event.

Key findings show that a significant percentage of residents interviewed did not believe that they were at-risk and neither planned nor prepared for a possible bushfire, and that only 5% of the 1760 people interviewed had a written bushfire survival plan.

Download: Capturing community bushfire readiness: Post-bushfire interview studies 2009 – 2014