Bushfire expert Tony Hawkins visits residents in Bell, Clarence and Dargan

Over four weekends in April and May, residents of Bell, Clarence and Dargan turned out in large numbers to hear bushfire expert Tony Hawkins talk about how to reduce the risk of bushfires in their homes and neighbourhoods. 

For some neighbours attending the event, it was the first opportunity they’d had to meet each other and share their experiences. 

As one resident commented; “the training has been fantastic. I have only recently moved into the area, and my knowledge and experience of bushfire preparedness is limited. The workshops have not only taught me a huge amount about how to prepare my home for bushfires, but I have also really enjoyed meeting other locals and making new connections.” 

The event was organised by local community organisation ABCD Inc and it was funded by the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF) which is a joint initiative of the NSW and Federal Governments.

A resident of Wollombi in the Hunter Valley, Tony Hawkins is no stranger to living in a bushfire prone area or to defending his own home as well as neighbours’ properties from the threat of fires.

After spending many years volunteering with the NSW Rural Fire Service, Tony worked for the RFS as a staff member where he specialised in bushfire mitigation before moving into private consultancy. He is currently the Director of Australian Bushfire Protection Planners Pty Ltd.

Tony’s interest in bushfire mitigation also led him to complete as Masters degree in Bushfire Protection from Western Sydney University where he researched extreme bushfire behaviour.

Tony visited residents’ homes in Bell, Clarence and Dargan where he gave them personalised and cost effective advice on how to improve the resilience of their homes in the event of a bushfire.

Discussion topics included examining the fire history of the area, looking at how to make your house defendable, how to manage vegetation on your property as well as consider construction features such as installing sprinklers and placing gap fillers like steel wool under your windows to reduce the impacts of ember attack. 

All the sessions with Tony where filmed and will be edited into a series of short videos that will be released later in the year so that any resident can view them. 

Two further weekend home bushfire assessments with Tony are also scheduled to take place in September and October.  

For further information go to: https://abcdinc.org.au.