Daniel Katz installed a ‘last resort’ bunker after fleeing a bushfire, but he’s been told to remove it

Memories of the 2019 Cudlee Creek bushfire are burned into Daniel Katz’s mind.

The Bridgewater father was partway through building a new house, when, just days before Christmas, he and his young family had to flee their Adelaide Hills property.

“I ended up spending the night at work sleeping on the floor with my partner and my kids,” Mr Katz said.

“It was quite a worrisome moment.”

Mr Katz said the bushfire was a “wake-up call” for himself and his partner Jodie Roberts, whose now-finished house sits at the end of a steep, 300-metre-long driveway lined with gum trees.

Fearing they might not be able to evacuate, or that fallen trees would prevent firefighters from accessing their property in the event of another fire, the pair purchased a prefabricated bushfire bunker to shelter in as a “last resort” option.

“There’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to leave early, there’s no guarantee that the road will be free from trees or debris and, therefore, if I’m stuck, I’d like to be in a place where I have some ability to protect myself and my family,” Mr Katz said.

“Think about it the same way as airbags in your car — nobody would want to use airbags, but if something was to happen and I had no other choice, I would love to have a peace of mind knowing that I’ve got somewhere that potentially will give me a chance to preserve life.”

No accredited bushfire shelters in SA

Mr Katz said he purchased a bunker accredited by Victoria’s Building Regulations Advisory Committee, as there are currently no pre-approved shelters in SA.

He said he installed the six-person shelter on his property in 2021 without applying for development approval.

“We were willing to take the risk in order to protect our family,” he said.

“The Building Technical Panel, which is the authority who is meant to give us concurrence, cannot give us concurrence given it does not meet the requirements in the regulations.”

Mr Katz said when his local council discovered the shelter on his property, it asked him to apply for retrospective development approval and later issued a removal notice.

He said he was currently appealing the directive in the Environment, Development and Resources Court, and had been ordered to padlock his shelter while proceedings were underway.

“Under no circumstances are we to use the fire shelter, which is a bit disconcerting given the fire season coming upon us,” he said.

Former building certifier, Terry Bush, said he was aware of about six other SA property owners facing a similar situation.

“They’ve either been told to pull them [the bushfire shelters] out or make a [development] application,” he said.

“I liken it to a situation where, if a car is built in New South Wales and it comes to South Australia, it’s got to be recertified before it can be used.

“If it’s already been accredited in Victoria, it should be able to be used here.”

Planning rules differ between states and territories

The SA Country Fire Service does not endorse the use of private bushfire shelters and instead advises people to evacuate their properties early.

However, a 2009 Victorian royal commission following the Black Saturday bushfire found that personal bushfire shelters could be a “fallback option” if early evacuation was not possible.

The inquiry recommended that the Victorian Government work with councils to develop criteria for bushfire shelters “so that people are not discouraged from using a bushfire shelter if there is no better option available”.

University of Adelaide researcher, Dr Phillipa McCormack, said while the Victorian Government had responded to the royal commission by accrediting some shelters, SA had not followed suit.

“The challenge in South Australia and other states and territories is that the Victorian accreditation is not a national accreditation,” she said.

“Those shelters that are accredited there [in Victoria] can be purchased elsewhere in Australia, but other state and territory governments might not agree that they are safe or meet the performance requirements of the code.”

Dr McCormack said it would be useful for other states to adopt a “clear, step-by-step process” for bushfire shelter accreditation, so that people could comply with the law and take responsibility for their own safety.

“We are putting those people into a situation where they may be injured or killed by a fire simply because we couldn’t cut a quick pathway through a regulatory framework that we know isn’t working the way it should,” she said.

SA launches bushfire shelter review

SA Planning Minister Nick Champion agreed that it was “very difficult” for personal bushfire shelters to be approved in the state.

“Often the compliance certification is not clear by the manufacturers, and we obviously don’t want to provide a planning pathway for something that isn’t safe,” he said.

“It’s always best for people to have a bushfire survival plan, people should follow CFS advice and, where possible, they should leave these areas early.”

Mr Champion said a departmental review was currently underway to determine whether there was a more “appropriate planning mechanism” to assess bushfire shelter applications.

He said the review, to be complete in October, would consider processes used in other states.

“We do want to look carefully at this, get the appropriate advice before we provide a planning pathway,” he said.

“If it’s worked in Victoria, we’ll look at that experience, but we’re talking [about] one state in a country which has high bushfire prone areas in nearly every state.

“We’re going to be prudent and take our time.”

Mr Katz said a review was necessary, as some people who lived in high bushfire danger areas had started to “take matters into their own hands” by building their own makeshift bushfire shelters.

“All I’m asking is for the Planning Commission to review the current regulations and to provide an avenue similar to what has been adapted in Victoria to allow for accredited products from other jurisdictions like Victoria to be accepted as a product here in South Australia,” he said.

“Unless the government can guarantee 100 per cent that I’ll be safe if there was a bushfire coming up my property, up our driveway, I would like to be able to protect myself.”