Five checks before you order bushfire shutters for an Adelaide Hills house

What the sources are

CSIRO's Bushfire best practice guide is a free CSIRO resource on how buildings are designed and built for bushfire. Its shutters page says: Non-combustible shutters offer protection against flame contact, embers, and strikes from flying objects.

The Country Fire Service is South Australia's fire authority. Its planning page is about approvals and BAL assessments in the Adelaide Hills and elsewhere.

Five checks, in the order an owner meets them

Each check rests on one statement, named, with the read date on the page it came from.

• What it is made of: CSIRO says shutter systems should be made with non-combustible material. It also says to avoid plastic shutters, which melt during a bushfire.
• How tight it fits: CSIRO says shutter systems should be tight fitting with gaps less than 2mm to avoid ember entry. Ask how large the gaps are at the sill and the channel.
• How it closes: As an active system, the shutter must be manually closed to be effective; consider using an automated system to close the shutter.
• Whether approval is needed: The Country Fire Service says that if you are changing a window or roof you need to check with your local council or building certifier whether any approvals are needed.
• Who is authorised: South Australia's Building Work Contractors Act 1995 bars carrying on business as a building work contractor except as authorised under it. No page read says whether fitting shutters is covered, so ask for the contractor number and which work it covers.

What none of this tells you

It does not say whether your house needs shutters, what its BAL is, or what shutters cost; no government source read sets a price and this site sets none. It also does not say that any house is in a bushfire area: the CFS says to check the Planning and Design Code for that.

The Country Fire Service says that when it inspects a property it looks at vegetation within 100 metres of the edge of the development.