This unassuming four-bedroom house in the bush is the only one of its kind in Australia.
The home in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney has no gaps on the outside and is clad in fibre cement, giving it Australia’s highest bushfire rating.
Builder Joe Mercieca and his wife Merylese, a former registered nurse, experienced firsthand the devastation of losing their possessions in a summer inferno.
That ordeal in 2013 inspired them to develop a house at Winmalee that can withstand the flames for up to 20 minutes – often enough time for a fire front to pass or the fire brigade to arrive.
This unassuming four-bedroom house backing on to the bush at the Blue Mountains is the only one of its kind in Australia
The home at Winmalee has no gaps on the outside and is clad in fibre cement, giving it Australia’s highest bushfire rating
‘It’s the first certified passive house in Australia to be built to flame-zone standards,’ Mrs Mercieca told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Normally, the intensity of the fire’s about 20 minutes – the flame zone houses are designed to withstand for that 20 minutes.
‘They will give you a better chance if you are caught in a fire than a standard home more than being out in the open or in a car.’
Every summer, millions of Australians living among the trees in the suburbs and the country face the threat of bushfires as temperatures soar above 30 degrees Celsius and dry eucalyptus leaves became flammable.
