A much higher percentage of homes were lost within one metre of bushland during bushfires in the NSW town of Tathra than in comparable blazes.

A Risk Frontiers study shows more than 41% of the 65 homes destroyed in the March blaze were within the one-metre zone, compared with about 25% in the 2009 Marysville and Kinglake fires in Victoria, and 31% in the 2011 Roleystone fire in WA.

Apart from the 65 homes lost in Tathra, another 48 were damaged and 1250 hectares of bushland was burned.

About 72% of surveyed homes were within 100 metres of the “bushland interface”.

Half of the destroyed homes were within 30 metres of the interface and 42% were adjacent to classified bushland boundaries.

Newer homes seem to perform better than older homes, the study shows. No homes more than 630 metres from bushland were destroyed.