Bushfire preparedness vital

Research compiled by the Rural Fire Service and CSIRO in the immediate wake of the Blue Mountains fires found that people's level of preparedness was vital, particularly well ahead of the blazes.

The presence of ground-level vegetation - rather than tree cover - increased the likelihood a house would be destroyed, as did the presence of ignitable material on or close to homes, said Justin Leonard, CSIRO's leader in bushfire urban design research.

''We had very few examples where the firefront actually reached the houses or had significant radiant-heat transmission to the houses,'' Mr Leonard said.

While the fires were often fast moving, conditions were less extreme than the 2009 Black Saturday fires in Victoria. Many of the 173 who died perished near their homes.

The RFS said the findings were still being analysed and there is no conclusion yet on implications for the policy of advising people to leave areas ahead of periods of extreme or catastrophic fire danger.

''Property can be replaced, people's lives can't be,'' deputy RFS commissioner Rob Rogers said.

''We will always err on the side of people's safety.''

Paul Fosse was one of the lucky ones last month. When a blaze threatened his property on the Bells Line of Road at Dargan, he wasn't home - the RFS volunteer was out filling water trucks.

Two crews fought to save his property but when the blaze became too intense they had to pull back, expecting they would lose the house. Remarkably it survived.

The RFS dispatched 46 building impact assessment teams across the fire zones, centred on the Blue Mountains, within hours of last month's blazes. Among their arsenal were new tablet computer applications developed by CSIRO.

''From now on, we will only use that system,'' Mr Rogers said.

The research comes as the O'Farrell government prepares changes to planning regulations in fire-prone areas, including granting residents the right to clear trees out to 10 metres of homes and ground vegetation out to 50 metres on their own properties.

The CSIRO-RFS data, which is also being analysed by the University of Wollongong, suggest personal responsibility is key to reducing fire hazards.

Leaving material that can ignite under ember attack - such as storing a caravan or boat close to a house, retaining wooden furniture on decks, and failing to clear gutters of leaves - were all factors in determining whether a house caught fire.

''There's a massive amount of implications, mostly relating to human behaviour, that you couldn't possibly cover through regulation,'' Mr Leonard said.

The importance of preparing one's property ''cannot be over-emphasised'', but also how neighbours act is also key, Mr Rogers said. ''If one person doesn't do their maintenance, they can basically put the entire row of homes in jeopardy.

''It could [also] be in your interest to stop your neighbour's house from burning down.''

The three main fires in the Blue Mountains burnt more than 69,000 hectares and claimed the bulk of the 214 homes destroyed in NSW between October 13 and 26.

The fires were the first major test since new standards were introduced for housing developments in fire-prone areas in 2006, said Ross Bradstock, director of the University of Wollongong's Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires.

The blazes exposed a weakness in that houses may meet requirements when built but nothing is done to ensure they maintain those levels, Professor Bradstock said.

''There is no system of enforcing or even monitoring of that over time,'' he said. ''It's really a problem that exists at the local government [level].''

October had four days of extreme or worse fire danger, as measured at Sydney Airport, matching the level seen in 1968 - the last year of major fires in the state, Professor Bradstock said.