Hi David,
I live in the Adelaide hills and have spent a lot of energy trying to make my old cottage with a new extension defensible in the event of a wild fire. I have just read your Flywire house free ebook for which I donated $5.00. Thank you.

What would be really useful to many many people is how to make existing houses , old and newer, defensible without having to pull them down and start again and without spending a fortune.

I have spent a lot of time, for instance. spanning flywire between the undersides of the fascias and the corrugated iron walls of our old shed, but the possums do their damndest to undo it as fast as I can do it! We have rotten fascias on the old cottage. Had a quote from Fielders for $600 to cover them with colourbond…. too expensive to replace cos the cottage is a can of worms.

So, could you compile something like a list of hints and ideas for making existing structures more defensible?

We do have 2 fire pumps, 2 water sources including permanently plumbed in-ground pool and sprinklers on house, sheep grazing up to house on fire side, and 4 huge old leafy elms to the north and east of the house.

Thanks,
Caroline Johnson, Aldgate, Adelaide hills