Sign in or 
Share this
Preparing for Bush Fire Season
Preparing For A Bushfire 
February 7th will be a day we will never forget. Friends and Relatives of ours were in somewhat way
effected by the devastating bushfires which took place across the state. During the Black Saturday
Fires - The Party Mix was there. Helping Local people in our area with fires and locations. Also Gippsland
FM 104.7 was there by allowing the ABC Radio from Sale Broadcast on 104.7. We will remember those
who lost there lives in Gippsland and our hearts are with everybody effected by these fires.
And may they all rest in peace.
And because of this we have created this page especially for people in Gippsland. Here you will find the number
for the Victorian Bushfire Information Hotline and many links and helpful step by step guide to
make sure that you will be prepared for a fire in your area.
Bushfires are a part of the Australian Summer and days of hot weather can fan bushfires so quick. When there is a fire in your area
you need to leave at the right time. Leaving to early is better then leaving late. The Party Mix has put up a page to help all local people in the
valley with links to the right information that you need.
FIRST THING: Fire Plan
All people who live in a high bushfire risk area need to develop a Bushfire Survival Plan. A Bushfire Survival Plan is a well thought out plan about how you will prepare and respond to a fire in your area. A plan should include a set of actions to address the risk and will require you to make a series of decisions about what you will do on a high fire risk day, or should a fire threaten your home. People should develop a written plan that identifies all the actions they will undertake on high fire risk days. You are more likely to remember to do some of the things you have identified as being important if you write them down. To develop your plan you need to consider all the issues about your level of risk, actions you will undertake to prepare yourself and your home for bushfire and what you will do on high fire risk days. Even if your decision is to leave the area before fire threatens, you still need a well thought out plan. Everyone’s circumstances are different so it is important that you develop a plan that suits your household. Make sure all members of your household know what the plan is and know what roles and responsibilities they have. And as circumstances change, it is important that you review your Bushfire Survival Plan before each summer fire season. The first decision must be what trigger you will use to implement your plan. Ask yourself “On which days should I be ready to implement my plan?” People should implement their plan each Total Fire Ban Day or on other high fire risk days when temperatures rise, the humidity is low and there are strong northerly winds. You should decide well before summer whether you intend to leave your home on high fire risk days or stay and defend your property should a fire threaten your area. Your first decision is leave or stay – will you:
Leave or Stay?
When making a decision about what you will do if there is a bushfire in your area, the first and most important thing to decide is whether you intend to stay with your home. In Victoria, CFA's position is that it is the right of residents to decide for themselves whether they will stay and defend their property. The Emergency Management Act and the Country Fire Authority Act allows residents to stay with their homes in a bushfire if they have a financial interest in their home. Note, however, that once a resident has left his or her home or if he or she is away from the home at the time of the fire, that person may be legally prevented from returning to the residence by Police at traffic management point. If you decide to leave home you must do so before a fire threatens and road travel becomes hazardous. If a fire is burning nearby, late evacuation is a deadly option. 
If you are well prepared for a bushfire and are physically able to protect your house once the fire has passed, you have a very good chance of surviving by remaining with your home. Most houses can survive the fire front if actively defended and the house and property has been well prepared. Staying with your home will mean that you can put out any small fires after the fire front has passed, which is the most likely time for small fires to start. During bushfires, a house may catch on fire by sparks and embers lodging themselves in wall vents, on window ledges, under floor boards, in roof gutters, on the roof, and nearby bushes, grass and leaves catching fire. Some houses cannot be saved in a bushfire by the occupants alone. This can depend on:
More importantly, your house and its surrounds have to be prepared well before the day of the fire threat - preferably before the start of the fire season
Before The Fire Season:
Before the fire front arrives
During the fire
After the fire front has passed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1800 240 667
or check out the CFA Website: www.cfa.vic.gov.au
February 7th will be a day we will never forget. Friends and Relatives of ours were in somewhat way
effected by the devastating bushfires which took place across the state. During the Black Saturday
Fires - The Party Mix was there. Helping Local people in our area with fires and locations. Also Gippsland
FM 104.7 was there by allowing the ABC Radio from Sale Broadcast on 104.7. We will remember those
who lost there lives in Gippsland and our hearts are with everybody effected by these fires.
And may they all rest in peace.
And because of this we have created this page especially for people in Gippsland. Here you will find the number
for the Victorian Bushfire Information Hotline and many links and helpful step by step guide to
make sure that you will be prepared for a fire in your area.
Bushfires are a part of the Australian Summer and days of hot weather can fan bushfires so quick. When there is a fire in your area
you need to leave at the right time. Leaving to early is better then leaving late. The Party Mix has put up a page to help all local people in the
valley with links to the right information that you need.
FIRST THING: Fire Plan
All people who live in a high bushfire risk area need to develop a Bushfire Survival Plan. A Bushfire Survival Plan is a well thought out plan about how you will prepare and respond to a fire in your area. A plan should include a set of actions to address the risk and will require you to make a series of decisions about what you will do on a high fire risk day, or should a fire threaten your home. People should develop a written plan that identifies all the actions they will undertake on high fire risk days. You are more likely to remember to do some of the things you have identified as being important if you write them down. To develop your plan you need to consider all the issues about your level of risk, actions you will undertake to prepare yourself and your home for bushfire and what you will do on high fire risk days. Even if your decision is to leave the area before fire threatens, you still need a well thought out plan. Everyone’s circumstances are different so it is important that you develop a plan that suits your household. Make sure all members of your household know what the plan is and know what roles and responsibilities they have. And as circumstances change, it is important that you review your Bushfire Survival Plan before each summer fire season. The first decision must be what trigger you will use to implement your plan. Ask yourself “On which days should I be ready to implement my plan?” People should implement their plan each Total Fire Ban Day or on other high fire risk days when temperatures rise, the humidity is low and there are strong northerly winds. You should decide well before summer whether you intend to leave your home on high fire risk days or stay and defend your property should a fire threaten your area. Your first decision is leave or stay – will you:
- Stay and actively defend, or
- Leave early
- When you will leave
- Where you will go
- How you will get there
- What you will take with you
- What you will do with your pets
- Who you have told about your plan
- Where you and other family members will be
- What you will do if your children are at school when the fire starts
- Who will look after your pets
- What you will do if you have elderly relatives or young children living with you
- How you will protect your property
- How you will protect yourself
- How you will know what is going on during the fire
- What you will do to patrol your property after the fire front has passed through
Leave or Stay?
When making a decision about what you will do if there is a bushfire in your area, the first and most important thing to decide is whether you intend to stay with your home. In Victoria, CFA's position is that it is the right of residents to decide for themselves whether they will stay and defend their property. The Emergency Management Act and the Country Fire Authority Act allows residents to stay with their homes in a bushfire if they have a financial interest in their home. Note, however, that once a resident has left his or her home or if he or she is away from the home at the time of the fire, that person may be legally prevented from returning to the residence by Police at traffic management point. If you decide to leave home you must do so before a fire threatens and road travel becomes hazardous. If a fire is burning nearby, late evacuation is a deadly option. If you are well prepared for a bushfire and are physically able to protect your house once the fire has passed, you have a very good chance of surviving by remaining with your home. Most houses can survive the fire front if actively defended and the house and property has been well prepared. Staying with your home will mean that you can put out any small fires after the fire front has passed, which is the most likely time for small fires to start. During bushfires, a house may catch on fire by sparks and embers lodging themselves in wall vents, on window ledges, under floor boards, in roof gutters, on the roof, and nearby bushes, grass and leaves catching fire. Some houses cannot be saved in a bushfire by the occupants alone. This can depend on:
- the house design
- position of the house on the land
- types of plants close to the house, and
- adequate access to a water supply.
Late evacuation is a deadly option
Experience has shown that many residents receive little, if any, official warning of an approaching fire. Will you have time to leave the area safely? Will you know in which direction the fire is travelling? Don’t risk being caught on the open road in your car or worse, on foot. The vast majority of deaths in bushfire involve people caught in cars or on foot. Once the fire is close, visibility will be very poor and travel will be hazardous. Your house offers better protection from radiant heat than your car. Fallen trees, power lines, abandoned cars or even firefighting vehicles may block roads. Whatever your decision, it is essential that you and your home are prepared to withstand a bushfire. If the fire is upon you before you can safely leave, you might be forced to shelter in your home.How safe is your home?
A home is far more likely to survive if able-bodied people are there during a bushfire because they can quickly put out small outbreaks on or near the house. However you need the proper equipment and to be mentally and physically prepared to fight the fire.More importantly, your house and its surrounds have to be prepared well before the day of the fire threat - preferably before the start of the fire season
Before The Fire Season:
- Keep grass cut
- Reduce ‘fine fuels’ - Fine fuels are things such as long dry grass, fallen leaves and twigs. Anything smaller in diameter than your little finger is a fine fuel and it is these that you need to clean up around your property
- Clear away dead undergrowth, and fallen branches
- Move wood piles away from your home
- Clean leaves out of gutters
- Plant trees and shrubs away from your home
- Plant a protective shield of trees around the house to slow the wind, cut down radiant heat and catch flying embers and sparks from a bushfire
- Place weather stripping around the inside of doors and windows
- Close underfloor spaces and seal all gaps where embers could enter
- Make firescreens to go over windows to prevent the glass from cracking in radiant heat
- Mains water supply may not be a reliable source during a fire as the water pressure may drop. Make sure that you have access to adequate water supplies, such as tanks, dams, swimming pools or water reserves. Install a sprinkler system around your home
- Power may go off - so don't rely on electrical pumps for supply of water
- Gather appropriate firefighting equipment such as ladders, hoses, buckets, mops, portable water pumps, a ladder, rake, a torch, and a knapsack spray to put out small "spot" fires
Before the fire front arrives
- Dress in personal protective clothing to protect from radiant heat
- Shut all windows and doors to prevent smoke and flames from entering the house
- Move furniture away from the windows to prevent sparks from entering the house through a broken window and catching alight in the furniture, which often burns easily
- Put a ladder under the manhole and torch nearby for checking ceiling space for any embers that may have landed
- Fill the bath and buckets with water to provide a water supply in the house for putting out any small fires that may start
- Soak towels and woollen blankets with water ready to put on any spot fires that might start inside the house
- Place wet blankets or towels around window and door edges inside the house to stop smoke and embers from entering the house
- Hose down the side of the house facing the fire, and garden area close to the house, to cool the house down and stop it from burning
- Patrol your property for any embers and extinguish them
During the fire
- Go inside when it becomes too hot to stay outside. The skin on your ears and hands will alert you that conditions have become too hot to survive outside. Your home will protect you from radiant heat while the fire front passes through – typically taking around 10 to 20 minutes
- Take all firefighting equipment inside with you, including tap fittings and hoses
- Stay inside your house while the fire front passes and listen to the radio for fire reports
After the fire front has passed
- Continue to wear your personal protective clothing
- After the main fire front passes, go outside again as soon as it is safe, to extinguish any small fires that may have started
- Water down the outside of the house, including the roof, and look out for small fires around your house
- Continue to look out for small fires and burning embers many hours after the fire has passed. Check for burning embers:
- inside the roof
- under the floor boards
- under house spaces
- on verandahs and wooden decking
- on timber window ledges and door sills
- roof lines and roof gutters
- outdoor furniture
- doormats
- garden beds and mulch
- wood heaps
CALL THE BUSHFIRE INFORMATION LINE ON:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1800 240 667
or check out the CFA Website: www.cfa.vic.gov.au
Jamie_pallot |
Latest page update: made by Jamie_pallot
, Sep 21 2009, 11:37 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by Jamie_pallot
2006 words added 4 images added view changes - complete history) |
|
Keyword tags:
None
More Info: links to this page
|
There are no threads for this page.
Be the first to start a new thread.
