Have you ever watched a home or commercial building go up in flames? It is a sight you would never forget and if you have lost a home to fire you will know the heartache and cost involved. Homes don’t have to be caught up in a terrible bushfire to be burned to the ground. Often a fire is started due to some fault in the electricity, such as a faulty heater, electric blanket or old wiring. It can also start through an accident in the kitchen, or children playing with matches.

But the result is usually the same. Unless it is put out before it spreads, extensive damage occurs that usually means the home is not safe to live in any more. It is important to fireproof your home if you don’t want to risk losing it to fire. Even a fire in the house next door can affect your house and damage it.

One good way to ensure there is less risk of your home burning down is to build it with a Colorbond roof. The steel sheets are known for their ability to reduce the risks of fire. The burning embers from any fire in the vicinity can easily blow onto the roof and if it sticks in some little niche, the next thing you know your roof is on fire.

But Colorbond is a product that is smooth, with long, wide sheets, especially when compared to roofing tiles. Steel sheeting has virtually no little niches where sparks and embers can alight and remain. They may land, but they either blow off or sizzle out due to the nature of steel that cannot burn unless the temperatures are as high as they were when it was made.

In fact, the product has been immersed in flame for 30 minutes to see what would happen. This simulates the length of exposure time to a house next door that has caught fire during a bushfire. It was found to perform the best out of all other materials that were tested. Steel fencing was also considered one of the best protections against a bushfire.

So whether you live in a bushfire zone or an urban street, you can have peace of mind that your Colorbond roof will protect your home and give it a fighting chance of surviving damage from an external fire source, even though there is not much you can do for an internal fire, except try to prevent it happening in the first place.

You can do this by checking all electrical wiring and replacing worn parts, not smoking in bed and keeping lighters and matches away from children. Having safe heating methods such as air conditioning is also important.