The Bushfire Toolkit
- Publisher:
- Black Summer Bushfires Recovery Program
- Publication Type:
- Creative Work (written)
- Citation:
- 2026
- Issue Date:
- 2026-03-17
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The Bushfire Retrofit Toolkit: Making it work for older people is a peer‑reviewed, research‑led, multi‑modal knowledge output that translates empirical research into an applied decision‑support tool for improving housing resilience in bushfire‑prone communities. The toolkit addresses a recognised gap in existing bushfire retrofit guidance by explicitly integrating ageing‑in‑place considerations with bushfire building compliance and climate adaptation.
The toolkit was developed through a qualitative multi‑method research program that combined a systematic literature review, participatory design with older residents in bushfire‑prone regions (Bega Valley, NSW, and Noosa Shire, QLD), and detailed property‑level fieldwork, including site assessments and interviews. Research findings identified that existing retrofit guidance inadequately accounts for older people’s physical capacity, financial constraints, lifestyle priorities, and decision‑making processes. These insights directly informed the toolkit’s structure, content, and communication approach.
As a research output, the toolkit operationalises a scalable retrofit framework that prioritises retrofit actions by effort, cost, and risk, enabling staged implementation aligned with user capability. It integrates technical requirements from AS 3959:2018 with age‑responsive design principles, supporting informed, compliant, and achievable retrofit decision‑making. The toolkit employs a multi‑modal communication strategy, delivered as an interactive PDF with embedded short animation videos, to improve accessibility, comprehension, and uptake among older users.
The toolkit’s originality lies in its lifestyle‑first, capability‑based approach to bushfire retrofitting, shifting from a one‑size‑fits‑all technical model to an inclusive, user‑centred framework grounded in lived experience. It represents a direct translation of funded research into a publicly accessible, evidence‑based resource with demonstrated policy, industry, and community relevance. The toolkit contributes to research on climate adaptation, housing resilience, inclusive design, and disaster risk reduction, and is supported by peer‑reviewed publications that document its development, validation, and theoretical contribution.
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