Kingswood campus lecturer He Yapping has been testing alternatives for bushfire protection and has found that wood-log homes may be safer than brick-veneer housing it just depends on the structure of the home.

Dr Yapping said he was supervising a masters student who had found anecdotal evidence that a log won't burn as people usually expect in a bushfire.

``We normally have Hollywood pictures in our heads of how a house would burn down,'' Dr Yapping said.

``Our students who live in bushfire regions said that some timber houses survived in bushfires when brick-veneer houses were burnt down.

``That's when we decided to do a verification test to see if that is the case.''

Dr Yapping said reports that timber houses in the US and timber bridges in Australia had survived also prompted their interest in doing further studies.

From late 2006 until 2007 the UWS class used a CSIRO laboratory at North Ryde to conduct testing.

Using white Cyprus pine, they built a log wall with two sections: one that was bare and the other painted with a fire-rated coating.

In the lab, they simulated a bushfire attack on the wooden panels treated and untreated and results indicated that both would survive in a real bushfire.

The untreated panel had a charred layer which protected it, naturally creating an insulation so inner layers were not burnt.

The treated panel was not even charred.

``The problem is with the structure's form,'' he said. ``Very thin materials can be ignited and the heat penetrates very easily. Structures with openings where embers can get into the house, alight it.''

He said houses were most likely to ignite when windows and doors were left open; unprotected windows could also shatter.

The class, which has published two conference papers and a scientific journal, is doing further testing.