That's a really good point too. These days they know the risks - unlike the past, so it's clear that as usual money drives most decisions.Here, new builds in bush have quite stringent building regs though I dont think that makes a helluva difference. Glad you are safe and hope you remain so. We choose to live outside the most forested areas (only 5 or 10 minutes to closest national park) because as tempting as a bush block is, the fire risk is just too scary!