Australian Bushfires - Bunker Design Competition

SAVING LIVES through intellectual collaboration.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS AN OPEN SOURCE COLLABORATION. ALL INFORMATION WILL ENTER THE PUBLIC DOMAIN ON PUBLICATION. ANY KNOWLEDGE SHARED WILL NO LONGER BE SUBJECT TO THE REQUIREMENT OF NOVELTY IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW. ANY DEVICE BASED ON SUCH KNOWLEDGE WOULD NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR PATENT PROTECTION. It''s just that the patent process takes too damn long and I suspect we don't have much time before tragedy strikes again. Also, I may not be the smartest guy in the room. So my invention may not be quite up to scratch. Instead of spending millions on R&D, in the hope of getting rich off the patent, why not just put it out there for the benefit of all and let everyone contribute thier ideas?
From an article published in the Australian press:
Australians remain unprepared to deal with bushfires despite a long history of loss and devastation from natural disasters, according to some of the country's leading bushfire researchers.
The comments come as Australia deals with the loss of at least 173 lives and many more homes after devastating bushfires swept Victoria.


In the wake of the nation's worst bushfire in recorded history, other experts are also warning worse may be yet to come, with climate change and drought increasing the ferocity and duration of bushfires.
Psychology professor Douglas Paton, of the University of Tasmania, says levels of preparedness to deal with bushfires within at-risk communities in Australia are "generally low".
Professor Paton, a researcher with the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), says this lack of preparedness for bushfires is a significant public policy issue.
It is a problem that has been heightened by the increase in migration of people to semi-rural areas beyond the edge of cities.
Professor Paton says it is important any decisions made in the wake of the current devastating bushfires are made after "careful technical analysis" is completed.
But he concedes "there are circumstances in which no amount of preparedness is going to make any difference".
Fatalistic approach
Professor Paton says one of the main inhibitions in people preparing for the bushfire season is in whether they believe their actions will be effective.
"The biggest constraint is these people believe the fires themselves will be too big and catastrophic for their actions to make any difference," he said.
He says the media plays a role in this view developing, as coverage of bushfires often focuses on the loss and devastation.
Another factor is the way in which information is disseminated to communities.
Through the bushfire CRC, Professor Paton and the Tasmanian Fire Service will next year trial new ways of informing communities about the need to be proactive ahead of the bushfire season.
However, Professor Paton says it is important "to look at exactly what happened [in the latest fires] to see the kinds of processes that were in place" and to make sure "these lessons are not just lost once the inquiry is finalised".
Bushfire CRC chief executive officer Gary Morgan says the weekend's fires "show that many communities need to rethink the notion of who lives in a bushfire zone and who needs to be educated and prepared".
Mr Morgan says climate change, weather and drought are altering the nature, ferocity and duration of bushfires and an ageing and declining volunteer population is challenging the way fire agencies are going to be able to manage these events.
Better design
Bushfire urban design expert Justin Leonard of the CSIRO says the lost communities can be rebuilt to be more bushfire resilient.
He says many of the townships destroyed were "conceived long before a formal integrated response was devised on how buildings and towns should be designed" in the light of extreme bushfire behaviour.
Mr Leonard says in 90 per cent of cases homes are destroyed not by the fire, but by embers that ignite debris lying around the property.
He says research shows people who stay and defend the property have a three to six times greater chance of saving their home.
However, he says the findings could be subjective because the people who choose to stay and fight for their homes may already have more fire-proof residences.
When to flee
Professor John Handmer of RMIT University says research shows that fleeing at the last moment is the worst possible option as it is when most people die or are injured.
"This fire shows that leaving late can be the worst decision to make," he says.
"Alternatively, many people made the perfectly acceptable decision that their house was not defendable and decided to leave early. They may have lost their home, but they kept themselves safe.
"At this stage, it is too early to judge the application of the 'prepare, stay and defend', or 'leave early' policy, but it will be properly reviewed along with the normal review of all policies and practices after a major fire event."

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[towradgiluke]

Yeah, This needs to happen. But I believe the proposed cost is far too low. $1000 bucks gets you a bed at IKEA.

Digging the hole and setting up the foundations and formwork etc is going to go over that budget.

$10 000 is a more realistic beginning.

[ROBwithaB]

You don't need concrete. The earth itself will do the insulating. All you need is to shore the ground up so that it doesn't collapse in on the hole. The most efficient way is with a catenary arch. I was thinking roto-moulded LDPE.

A 2000 litre septic tank is a pretty close approximation of an efficient fireproff bunker.

They are already in mass production. They are light and easy to transport.

To dig the hole takes about 8 hours for a reasonably fit man.

I'll post some video footage soon....

[nickparker75]

I find it fascinating that people can criticise the proposal of fire bunkers.

The policy is "leave early or stay and defend".

For those who stay, what is plan B if you lose the fight? A wombat hole is better than nothing!

You don't go down with the ship because there isn't an Australian Standards life jacket available.

Good design and standards are to be highly encouraged, but to stay and fight without any kind of shelter is madness.

[ROBwithaB]

Agreed.

[wobbit42]

My emotion is also anger. You may kill more people by this thatn you save.

A well designed, and prepared house, does provide protection. Proven by research. I've been to Kinglake since the fires. I live nearby.

When/how are you going to get to the bunker? How are you going to get out?

The leave or stay policy is a good policy. Trouble is that it is not understood. 'Leave' means leave early in the morning BEFORE there is a fire. A fear that a bunker will give false safety and kill more people.

[ROBwithaB]

The idea would be to build the bunker close enough to the house to accss easily, but far enough away to prevent the problems I have sketched earlier (falling rubble etc).

The question of when/how do you get to the bunker is an important one, and would depend on your strategy. If you plan to stay inside the house until the last moment, then probably an entrance from the house should be provided, along with another that would not be blocked by falling rubble etc.

[nixymagoo]

As sad as it may be, death is as neccessary as life

[AusPrepper]

Hey Rob,

Wondering how the project is coming along?

[MusikAndLuv]

@ROBwithaB What about lack of oxygen? Some of these fires draw the oxygen from all available sources. I know in many large fires started by aerial bombing, people were asphyxiated in their shelters without being touched by fire.

[tw1nk0ez1]

i rlly dont think they need help to design bunkers they all no how to bulid em itsreal simple i was in one a few weeks a go it just a big "hole"in the ground and asmall entrance and a wet towel over the it and the a nother wet towel also .and a few 44 gallon drums of water inside .and also tht u will find most people survied buy jumping in to there dams they also survived it may be worth while just giving every one a dam neer there house witch most people in counrty victoria have. sooo yea

[m2910shc]

True,,,, nice thinking,hope its go well

[internationalroaming]

I live in the Dandenongs Sherbrooke Forest, most people know what to do during bush fires. I think the problem this time was because we've been in severe drought for almost 10 years, and the temps in Melbourne that week were in the mid 40's.

[willemeulen]

What is happening on this topic Rob, have you made any progress. Underground is definatly the way to go, it insulates very good. In general ground temperature let say at one meter deep is close to the average temperature of the air, differences between summer and winter are a lot smaller, it can even be used to cool and warm the house in summer and winter.

W