Bushfire Plan for Renters and Apartments
Almost every bushfire guide assumes you own the house. Clear your gutters. Install ember screens. Fit metal shutters. Maintain a defendable space. Install a pump and an independent water supply.
If you rent, most of that is unusable. You cannot modify the building, you may not be allowed on the roof, and the landlord’s maintenance schedule is not yours to set. If you live in an apartment, the building’s fire response is a strata matter and your balcony is not a fire front.
So the honest plan for renters and apartment dwellers is narrower — and, encouragingly, most of what actually keeps people alive is in the part you fully control.
The 10-minute version
- Your plan is to leave early. Staying and defending requires equipment, water and building modifications you do not have. That is not a compromise; leaving early is the option the Royal Commission called the safest anyway.
- The go-bag is entirely yours. Documents, medication, clothing, water and the irreplaceables box — none of it needs a landlord’s permission, and it is most of the value.
- Ask, in writing, for the maintenance you cannot do. Gutters, overhanging branches, rubbish accumulation. A written request creates a record and often gets it done.
What you actually control
More than it feels like.
Leaving early. The single most important decision, and it is entirely yours. Use the trigger table from Leave or Stay?: bag in the car at Extreme, gone the night before at Catastrophic.
Your documents. Scanned to cloud storage, a copy on a USB in the bag. Lease, licence, passport, insurance, prescriptions.
Contents insurance. This is the renter’s version of protecting the building, and it is routinely skipped. The landlord insures the building; nothing insures your possessions unless you do. It is generally a modest annual cost against replacing everything you own.
Photographic inventory. Every room, cupboards open, plus a narrated video. Ten minutes with a phone, and it is what makes a contents claim straightforward. You should have done this at move-in anyway — see How to Survive Your First Rental Inspection.
Medication and essentials. A week of everything, in the bag rather than the bathroom.
Your clothing. Cotton, wool or denim long sleeves and trousers, leather boots, gloves. You almost certainly own these already; the preparation is putting them in one place before October.
Your car. Fuel above half through the season, parked facing out where you can.
Knowing your risk. Look your address up on your state fire service’s map. Renters often have no idea, because nobody told them at the inspection.
What to ask the landlord or agent for
In writing — email, so there is a record. Politely, and framed as maintenance rather than demand.
- Gutter cleaning before fire season. The single highest-value item, and clearly a maintenance task.
- Overhanging branches and vegetation close to the building.
- Removal of accumulated rubbish, old timber or stored materials on the property.
- Repair of broken flyscreens, damaged vents, or gaps around doors and windows.
- Confirmation of what fire equipment exists — a working smoke alarm in every required location, and for apartments, the building’s evacuation plan.
If a request is refused or ignored and you believe there is a genuine safety issue, your state tenancy authority is the escalation path. Keep the email thread.
If you live in an apartment
Direct bushfire exposure is usually lower, and the risks shift.
- Know the building’s evacuation plan and the fire stairs. Walk them once, in daylight, so your feet know the route.
- Smoke is the realistic hazard, not flame — from a distant fire or a neighbouring unit. Close windows and balcony doors, turn off any ventilation that draws outside air, and use a P2 mask if smoke is heavy.
- Lifts do not work in an emergency, and they do not work in a blackout either. If you or anyone you live with cannot manage the stairs, that needs solving in advance.
- Balconies are a real fire risk in their own right — stored timber, dry pot plants, barbecues, cigarettes. Keep yours clear.
- Your car in a basement carpark may be unreachable if power fails. Know where the manual release is.
- Strata handles the building; you handle your unit. Report building-level concerns to the owners corporation in writing.
The smoke problem
Even far from a fire front, smoke can be the actual health event — and for renters it is often unmanageable, because you cannot seal the building.
- Close everything. Windows, doors, and any ventilation drawing outside air.
- A P2 or N95 mask is the only mask that helps. Cloth and surgical masks do essentially nothing for smoke particulate.
- One room, sealed as well as possible, with a portable air purifier if you have one. A door snake and a towel under the door help more than you would think.
- If anyone has asthma or a respiratory condition, have the plan and the medication ready in advance, and be prepared to leave for cleaner air rather than tough it out.
- Check air quality on your state EPA’s site rather than guessing from how it looks.
What actually goes wrong
Renters assume none of it applies to them, so they do nothing at all — when the highest-value action is the one they fully control.
No contents insurance. The most expensive omission available to a renter.
Documents live only on a laptop that stays in the house.
Maintenance is raised verbally, so there is no record when it matters.
Nobody knows the building’s evacuation route in an apartment.
The car is in a basement with a powered door and no known manual release.
Cheap fire-hazard clutter accumulates on balconies and in shared spaces.
Nobody looked up the actual risk of the address.
Thresholds
| Situation | The rule |
|---|---|
| Moving in | Photo and video inventory. Contents insurance arranged. Address risk looked up |
| Start of fire season | Go-bag packed and in the car. Fuel above half. Gutter request sent in writing |
| Rating hits Extreme | Bag in the car, documents loaded, plan live. Leave if that is your plan |
| Rating hits Catastrophic | Leave the night before or early that morning |
| Heavy smoke | House closed, P2 masks on, one room sealed. Leave for cleaner air if anyone is affected |
| Apartment, any emergency | Stairs, not lifts. Know the route before you need it |
| Any refused safety maintenance | Written record, then the tenancy authority |
What it costs
| Tier | Spend | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Written plan and triggers, documents scanned, photo inventory, maintenance requested in writing, evacuation route walked, address risk checked |
| Solid | ~$100–180 | Go-bag contents: P2 masks, headlamp, battery radio, power bank, first aid kit, water. Everything fits one cupboard |
| Essential ongoing | Varies | Contents insurance. The renter’s equivalent of every building modification you cannot make |
| Optional | ~$150–400 | A portable air purifier, genuinely useful in smoke seasons and it moves house with you |
The drill: the renter’s hour
- Ten minutes. Look up your address on your state fire service’s map. Write down the actual risk.
- Ten minutes. Photograph every room with cupboards open, and film a narrated walk-through. Upload it.
- Ten minutes. Scan the document set to cloud storage and put a USB copy in the bag.
- Ten minutes. Write and send the maintenance email — gutters, branches, rubbish, screens.
- Ten minutes. Pack the go-bag. Cotton clothing, leather boots, gloves, medication, chargers, water.
- Ten minutes. Walk your exit route — the fire stairs in an apartment, the second road out if you are in a house. Check the car park manual release.
One hour, almost no money, and it covers the part of bushfire survival that actually decides outcomes.
Frequently asked questions
Can renters do anything useful about bushfire risk?
Yes, and it is the part that matters most: leaving early, a packed go-bag, documents scanned, medication ready, contents insurance, and knowing the actual risk of the address. Building modifications are the landlord’s, but they are not what keeps people alive.
Should renters stay and defend?
No. Staying and defending requires independent water, a fuel-driven pump, hoses reaching every side, and a prepared building — none of which a renter controls. Your plan is to leave early.
What can I ask my landlord to do?
Clean the gutters before fire season, cut back overhanging vegetation, remove accumulated rubbish, and repair damaged screens, vents or door gaps. Ask in writing so there is a record, and escalate to your tenancy authority if a genuine safety issue is ignored.
Do I need contents insurance as a renter?
The landlord’s policy covers the building, not your possessions. Contents insurance is the renter’s most important protection and it is routinely skipped.
What should apartment dwellers do about bushfire?
Focus on smoke rather than flame: close everything, use P2 masks, seal one room. Know the fire stairs — lifts fail in emergencies and blackouts — keep the balcony clear of flammable clutter, and find the carpark’s manual release.
Are cloth masks any use in bushfire smoke?
No. Only a P2 or N95 mask filters the fine particulate in smoke. Cloth and surgical masks provide essentially no protection.