Many things get said about fire prevention

for homes around tree areas or the forest fringe etc

like clearing away debris

Would vacuuming the dust in the roof be one way to reduce the chances of ignition?

Your time would be better spent preventing fire getting into the roof space.

CrazyNeutrino said:

Many things get said about fire prevention

for homes around tree areas or the forest fringe etc

like clearing away debris

Would vacuuming the dust in the roof be one way to reduce the chances of ignition?

I would say so, cant make it any worse.

CrazyNeutrino said:

Many things get said about fire prevention

for homes around tree areas or the forest fringe etc

like clearing away debris

Would vacuuming the dust in the roof be one way to reduce the chances of ignition?

Having been part of the CSIRO Division that deals with the ignition of houses in forest fire conditions I ought to be able to answer that, but I’m not sure that I can give a satisfactory answer.

I have seen a diagram of how burning embers can enter a roof via the gap under the roof behind the gutter. I have not seen any diagram showing burning embers entering a roof space through gaps between roof tiles or between galvanised Iron sheets.

I have also been part of a study to assess the composition of material that naturally resides in gutters.

I do not know the composition of the dust in roof spaces – organic (eg. blown in by the wind) or inorganic (eg. clay, cement dust). If necessary, I could do a study of the dust inside my garage, which is probably representative of typical roof dust.

I also do not know how you could possibly vacuum up close to the gutters under the roof, which is where it matters.

Tell you what, try the following experiment at home. Using a thoroughly cleaned vacuum cleaner, vacuum up a cubic centimetre or more of dust in the roof. Then try to set fire to it. Does it sustain a fire? If not, then it’s safe.

mollwollfumble said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

Many things get said about fire prevention

for homes around tree areas or the forest fringe etc

like clearing away debris

Would vacuuming the dust in the roof be one way to reduce the chances of ignition?

Having been part of the CSIRO Division that deals with the ignition of houses in forest fire conditions I ought to be able to answer that, but I’m not sure that I can give a satisfactory answer.

I have seen a diagram of how burning embers can enter a roof via the gap under the roof behind the gutter. I have not seen any diagram showing burning embers entering a roof space through gaps between roof tiles or between galvanised Iron sheets.

I have also been part of a study to assess the composition of material that naturally resides in gutters.

I do not know the composition of the dust in roof spaces – organic (eg. blown in by the wind) or inorganic (eg. clay, cement dust). If necessary, I could do a study of the dust inside my garage, which is probably representative of typical roof dust.

I also do not know how you could possibly vacuum up close to the gutters under the roof, which is where it matters.

Tell you what, try the following experiment at home. Using a thoroughly cleaned vacuum cleaner, vacuum up a cubic centimetre or more of dust in the roof. Then try to set fire to it. Does it sustain a fire? If not, then it’s safe.

A lot depends upon the type of roof and whether the sisalation is intact or broken in the case of tile roofing for example. I use shredded paper coated in borax which is fire retardant as the insulation in the roof space but where the sisal has been torn to install air-con or to repair/replace the hot water tank, dust and leaves etc can enter by blowing under the tiles. This gathers towards the eaves on the sisal otherwise. So basically the same stuff that is in the gutters. There is less air flow inside the roof space so ignition would be less likely though as we know, fires can create howling winds.

Galvanised roofing has less entry points and would take longer to collect debris and it would likely contain less leaves.

Generally dusts are low likelyhood of ignition though we do know that the dusts from grains are highly inflammable so again Eucalyptus debris is likely inflammable at any particle size.

I wonder, has anyone trialed spraying a house down with borax solution and allowing it to dry before the fire arrives?