examinator, "You might not be touched by the flames but you die of asphyxiation."

Nah, not really. The heat is very intense, but it doesn't last that long - 10 to 15 minutes usually. A small room holds enough oxygen for hours. You could probably ventilate it, as the amount of ventilation you need keep humans alive forever is so small I doubt the heat it would let in would matter. You could even drive it using convection of the body heat, so it would naturally shut off during worst parts of the fire when the outside temperature goes wildly above body temperature.

Secondly the heat of a bush fire is almost all radiated heat, and is least concentrated near the ground. Keep the surface area of the door small, such as a manhole cover size, keep it at ground level and it won't capture that much heat.

Thirdly, as a engineering problem, designing doors that survive heat is a solved problem, and has been for centuries. Think blast furnaces, or even a just a box fireplace in the home.

Finally, if you were trapped in it, you would have to be dammed unlucky not to have someone come along and check before things got too serious.

If you were designing and building your own bunker, then the things you list would be a problem. You would at least have to think about them all very carefully. But with design specs, and specifically engineered parts it would be decidedly less effort that say putting in a swimming pool. The major issue would be maintenance, not building it in the first place.

We are all in mourning over the loss of life and this tragedy.

Points about an underground bunker. One family was saved by entering their underground wine callar. The cellar could be built of fire proof bricks and not use any wood or paint. It should be near the house but not under the house. It could be under 150 mm concrete slab, equipt with water and oxygen masks. The house might burn for 20 minutes or more so it needs to be in an open area clear of combustible materials.

Foxy the dirty face black and weary is as likely to be female as male the captain and deputy too.
Most brigade members like all who volunteer are top draw, but.
I have served in 8 different brigades, never one that did not have a member, sometimes fully active sometimes camp follower, who was suspected a being a fire bug.
Lighting fires to put them out! to get the pat on the backs? its true.
A long time ago, nearly 20 years I developed a training course, we implemented it, changing things on our trucks, sending two crew members to inspect trucks on Sunday,things that we wanted them to know must be right every time, we find faults and change the truck back improvements came better teams too.
Group captain who helped me on day after we replaced the gear said these words, quote I am bored lets light a fire!
I never spoke to him again, he is far from alone.
The Royal commission will highlight my concerns, or it would if it was about NSW, I have not met a fire man who is not concerned about red tape and increasing opposition to preventive burning in colder months.
This country's Flora and fauna need fires, have thousands of years of low fires behind them, false Prophets of conservation are going to kill many more Australians unless we take the power away from them.
I ask this question to those who do not think fire fighters can be the ones who light them.
Are you likely to find pedophiles in jobs close to children?
Why would it be different with the sick bug%^%s who light fires and murder people?
And while the bush is great surely building your home inside it is not fair to your family? kids? even pets? yes Col I do swear at the thought of idiots claiming to understand something they never will.
Let fix this in memory of all the victims lets fix it now.

*BTW grass doesn’t grow where there is tight tree cover.*

Examinator, I think you are missing the point. Forest litter
that has accumulated for years, is a major problem. That
is why Calm do cold burns, to reduce the forest litter.

That entails dead trees, branches, leaves etc. All loaded
with oil. Its usually the forest litter that sets the
live trees alight.

One of the areas that we had to deal with was a patch of
bush that had been fenced off for 50 years, with no stock
and no fires in that time. Just accumulated fuel. It
was only about 600 acres but it stayed alight for weeks,
no way you could extinguish every bit, until rain came
much later. All that litter burnt down the live trees.

One thing I learned, alot of houses that burn down,
start at the gutters. So it pays to plug up the downpipe
with a tennis ball or whatever and fill the gutters with
water, if you are going to walk away from your home.

Common sense prevails. If its a wooden house, in the
middle of a bunch of trees, you are asking for trouble.
If its a brick home, surrounded by pasture, it can easily
be saved.

It might be worthwhile examining what actually worked to save people.

On the News tonight, one fellow survived by lying in a water pipe under the road which was partially filled with water. Although the fire licked into the end of the pipe, he and his mate crawled in far enough to survive. The worst part was sharing the space with spiders.

Another fellow had an outdoor above-ground bunker made of those big grey fireproof bricks. Obviously designed to repel fire, he survived although his house nearby burned down. So, some things work - people should learn from these experiences.

A bunker under a house would probably be a problem if there was only one passageway out and the debris from the house blocked the manhole cover. Otherwise build a second exit passage that exited into the backyard somewhere.

” Much has happened now in NSW very few brigades burn at all..”

Belly. NSW has a prescribed burning strategy like other states:

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/aboutus/news/bush-telegraph-magazine/spring-2006/the-power-of-prescribed-burns

"Dickie, your post shows your complete misunderstanding of the
problem. CALM in WA peform regular controlled burns to
lower the fuel load in forests and other areas of Australia
could learn from that. Fact is it works." (Yabby)

Yabby, It is you who misunderstands. In 2002-2003, 656 fires in WA burnt 2.11 million ha of land managed by CALM and in 1978 in WA, high winds from Cyclone Alby, combined with hot dry conditions caused more than 70 bushfires. These stretched from Wanneroo North, to Pemberton in the south-west.

Thousands of sheep and cattle died in the fires and entire crops were destroyed. By the time the fires were brought under control, they had burnt out about 31,500ha and caused two human fatalities.

In December 2007, DEC (WA) allowed a convoy of trucks to proceed into a raging bushfire in the Boorabbin National Park. Those who were able to disconnect their trailers or turn around, fled. Those who couldn’t perished.

The Bureau of Meteorology claims it told DEC hours before the roadblock was removed, that the wind would change between 7pm and 8pm. DEC has insisted it was told the wind change was not due until 10pm, and has struggled to adequately explain its own media releases from the time, which say the wind change was due at 8pm.

Seemingly you are unaware Yabby that a bushfire can jump paddocks and wide roads? With a dry and desecrated soil, foliage on trees wilt, making them an ideal vessel for combustion. WA has had prescribed burning since or before the 60’s, and CALM and other state agencies, no doubt do the best they can on limited funding.

Nevertheless, as I have written previously, man is no longer a match for an irate Mother Nature who must now endeavour to regenerate her carbon sinks, sinks burnt not only by nature, but predominantly by arsonists.

Belly. Your snide ad hominens (and your bloated ego) further expose your ignorance.