UNSW’s fireproof paint protects homes from bushfires

UNSW’s Guan Yeoh led a team that developed fireproof paint to protect homes from bushfires.

UNSW engineer Guan Yeoh and his team developed a fireproof paint to protect homes from bushfires.

Problem Solver Award Winner (People’s Choice) UNSW

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New technologies to save homes in bushfire prone areas

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As climate change pushes Australia’s temperature to ever higher levels and widespread and frequent rains have built up the flammable fuel load, emergency authorities warn of an increased risk of bushfires in the summer of 2024 – particularly in Queensland, NSW and the Northern Territory.

To mitigate the risk to homes, a team of scientists at the University of NSW have developed a fireproofing paint called FSA Firecoat which is designed to safeguard houses and other structures from the destruction of bushfires.

Recently launched in a major chain of hardware stores nationwide, the fireproofing paint includes some polymer so it will adhere to most surfaces.

Mechanical engineering professor Guan Yeoh led the research into formulating and testing this paint which can be used on walls, roofs, doors, window frames, even steel shutters that can then cover glass windows – almost anywhere that can take a coat of paint.

With the fireproof paint.

Without the fireproof paint.

Typically applied as three light layers of undercoat, the fireproof paint can then be covered with a topcoat of paint of any colour.

“When the paint is subjected to the intense heat of the bushfires, it actually transforms itself into a very thick carbon layer, we call it a char layer,” Yeoh says, adding the internal structure of the home or building will be protected and once the fire danger is over only minor repairs will be needed.

“The homeowner can rip off the thick carbon layer, then prep the wall again and repaint.”

He and his colleagues recently decided to test the paint’s durability through two waves of fire. They painted a timber sample with the product and burned it for 10 to 15 minutes, he says.

They then scraped off the char and burned the sample again.

The timber itself remained unburnt after 15 minutes in the flames, and still undamaged after a further 30 minutes in the flames. “So even in the event of a second wave of bushfires, the home will still be protected,” Yeoh says.

Work on the fire-resistant paint began in 2018 after a company called Flame Security International contacted UNSW seeking paint product development – specifically a product that could protect a structure from fire.

Yeoh and his team came up with a chemical formulation for the product and then went into numerous rounds of testing to ensure the paint would continue to work well when produced on a larger scale.

He and his team are now working on a gutter device, which has been designed to close downpipes either via a mechanical switch or an app.

A roof can then be hosed and the pooled water in the gutters will prevent embers from setting fire to debris such as dry leaves, which could then set fire to the house – a common hazard in bushfires.

Yeoh is keen to keep working on ways to reduce the devastation of bushfires.

“I’ve seen Australia burn,” he says, “and that’s what really motivated me, because the bushfires are getting worse and worse every year and we have to do something.”