What is an ember attack?

And what should you do to protect yourself?

With the recent catastrophic bushfires around Australia, you may have heard the words ’ember attack’ pop up again and again. While people building in bushfire-prone areas are typically concerned about the potential of flames approaching their homes, it is crucial that you know how flying embers can put you at risk. This will ensure you can prepare your building and minimise the potential of harm or danger to your property.

Embers are pieces of burning debris, such as leaves, twigs or bark, which can be blown from the main fire by the wind and carried downwind of the bushfire. Large clusters of embers can be blown at once. When burning embers land, they can start spot fires, create new bushfires, or settle on houses and ignite any combustible material on your home. Ember attack is the most common way house fires start during bushfires.

It is not only people with houses close to bushfires that need to be on alert for ember attacks. Burning embers can be blown up to 10 kilometres from the original bushfire, and therefore houses even a few streets away from the bush are at risk.

Ember attacks don’t just occur during a bushfire either – embers can start blowing towards your property long before the fire approaches your area, and attacks can keep happening even after the fire front has passed.

The best way to protect your property from an ember attack? Make sure it is prepared, by:

• Removing leaves and other litter from your gutters
• Blocking open gutters and filling them with water, blocking roof cavities and air conditioning cavities
• Using non-combustible materials on the exterior of your home, and for your deck

One thing you can do to keep the exterior of your home fire safe is clad it in a non-combustible material.

Made from non-combustible solid aluminium, Fire Safe Cladding’s Longboard can be finished in a timber-look sublimated powder coat finish, giving it that stunning timber look Australians love for country homes, while reducing the risk of ember attack. Clad your home in FSC Longboard and feel reassured that any embers that touch your walls will not ignite your cladding. Longboard will not burn and will not spread flame through your home, making it a great first line of defence against embers from a bushfire.

To find out more about Longboard, a great solution to ember attack by Fire Safe Cladding, click here.