00:01This home at Stiglitz on Tasmania's east coast is surrounded by blackened trees and scorched earth.
00:09We were unscathed and right beside there was a house garment and there wasn't even a fence post burnt on
00:16our place.
00:17Last December a 1,200 hectare bushfire left only three small marks on the walker's front deck.
00:24It will always be a memory of how lucky we were really.
00:27The couple believes the way they'd prepared their home helped save it.
00:31They'd been mindful about building materials, installed roof sprinklers and kept on top of maintenance.
00:37You've got to respect fire.
00:39This local plumber installed the sprayer system.
00:42Also a volunteer firefighter, he helped protect the property.
00:46It was a fairly basic system on that house but it did make a lot of difference and
00:50wetted down the house and all the surrounding structures and decks.
00:54Extreme blazes and longer fire seasons are raising the stakes for homeowners.
00:59While it's impossible to make a home 100% fireproof, preparation can go a long way.
01:06Making your house resilient is all about getting that full list of ways the bushfire could find little nooks and
01:15crannies
01:15or exploit a particular thing like a doormat and to work through that entire list.
01:23Regulation gets homes to about an 80% survival rate.
01:27But it's a minimum safety net and I think people need to recognise that and also recognise the fact
01:34that it only gets you so far as a motivation to say, well, is that enough for me?
01:41One of the biggest barriers is money.
01:43And the scenes like this become more common.
01:45Insurance premiums are jumping.
01:48Some insurers are providing discounts for home improvements that reduce risk.
01:52For the walkers, it's been worth the effort.
01:55We've had a lot of questions and, oh, that's your house that survived.
01:59You were so lucky and, you know, it was just an act of God.
02:05And we said, well, we was prepared.
02:07We're prepared.
02:07And then we need to make a solution so that the next step is to get rid of.
02:09And we're just looking at the impostor and the next step.
02:09Yeah, we're pronto.
02:10We've got one, we're ready to be prepared.
02:10Because the next step is to make a better step.
02:11And we're ready.
02:11I'm ready to go.
02:12We're ready to go.
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