'Course Rooftop sprinkler systems are all very well. But unless you're on mains water you need a big 'spare' water storage tank, Plus, you need non-electric pumps, or gravity feed.
First thing that happens when the fire comes along is, the power goes off, so unless you have a gennie your electric water pumps don't go!
(Ask me how I know!)
You need a recirculating water system so the water that runs down the roof gutters goes back into the tank it came from
A person who knows what they are douing will install an appropriate sized tank
Most ember attacks are fairly short lived and 20,000 litres will cover most houses for quite some time
About 1/3 of the water has to go past the gutters so the ground around the house is also damp .
Naturally there should never be any vegitation against the house walls ( but every one dose this ) .
And yes a diesel or petrol electric start pump is required .
Not much use if you are not there to start it but a couple of people on my old Blue Mountains delivery run had them installed and they all said it was the only thing that actually saved their property as all of th RFS was at Katoomba & Leura so the houses on Shippley plateau were told to leave as there would be no emergency response teams available .
Lots of politicallyy conected people with hoses in Leura & Wenty .
The builder showed me the regulations for building in a bush fire affected region, it was hundreds of pages long, but not a word about sprinklers or roof shapes.
Same story with the people I know at Springwood & Windlamee all sorts of stuff like external window stills having to be 1/2 round or sloped at 45 deg or more to avoid embers resting there but nothing about attic windoes & roofs making debris traps .
As for government spending Musky, yes totally stupid
We used to get an allocation to cover general running costs then extra on a project by project basis , then Fraser came in & everything changed .
Departments should all get a fixed percentage of revenue so they have a known budget withing a few percent every year and if they ubder spend 1/2 of the under spend gts added to next year as extra funding .
There will be few raging bushfires this seasoon sothe accountants will consider bush fire solved and clawback money from the RFS thus preventing long term fire proofing planning from being exicuted & because of the floods, the money will be channeled into the SES .
Meanwhile millions of dollars worht of trains are sitting idle because the government failed to consult with their staff & thought if they ordered trains with no facilities for a guard then they could force guardless trains onto the tracks
On top of that 22 trian platforms will have to be made narrower because the trains are too wide of most island platforms and 18 tunnels made taller because the trains won't fit through them.
