Hard stats shed light on bushfire risk › News in Science (ABC Science)

The risk of a house being burnt down in a bushfire in Australia is small and hasn't changed in the past 100 years, say researchers.

Risk expert, Professor John McAneney, of Macquarie University in Sydney, and colleagues, report their findings in the Journal of Environmental Management.

McAneney and colleagues scoured the historical evidence - from police and media reports to coronial enquiries - for information on the number of properties lost to fire over the past 100 years in Australia.They then compared this to the 550,000 houses located within 100 metres of bush in fire-prone areas and found that on average the risk of a house burning down is 1 in 6500.

"This is lower than having a fire in your kitchen," says McAneney, who is with the university's Risk Frontiers group.He says over the past 100 years, an average of 84 houses have been lost per year to bushfire.

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