Burning issues

Natural disaster cover is fraught with danger, so make sure you have the right kind of protection and understand the fine print

- DAVID THORNTON

It’s a tragic irony that some of the country’s most beautiful areas to live are often the same ones most exposed to disaster. For many this is a risk worth taking, and it’s a risk that can be mitigated with the right insurance plan.

The bushfires that raged in summer underscore the need to not only have home insurance but to have the right home insurance.

Like all insurance, the cost and level of home cover is directly related to the risk the policy poses to the insurer. Knowing the finer details of bushfire insurance can help you pick up the pieces and rebuild without shouldering an undue financial burden.

How the risk is rated

In 2009, following the Black Saturday fires in Victoria, the building code was changed to better protect at-risk property.

The risk to your home is now calculated using bushfire attack level (BAL) ratings, which measure the severity of a building’s potential exposure to ember attack, radiant heat and direct flame contact (see table).

The ratings also dictate the required construction standards for your home. The higher the rating, the more resistant to bushfire the construction needs to be.

The most common way to establish the BAL rating involves four components:

• The fire danger index (FDI), which factors in the chance of fire, its rate of spread and the difficulty of its suppression.

• The type and density of vegetation around the site.

• Distance of the building site from the vegetation.

• The slope of the ground under the vegetation in relation to the building site.