Bushfires: How to prepare your home

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Emergency services in south-eastern states are on high alert for bushfires. The NSW Rural Fire Service provides tips for preparing and protecting your home if you live in a fire-prone area.

Most people who perish in bushfires die because they have left the decision to evacuate too late. The Rural Fire Services says the decision on whether to relocate, evacuate or stay and defend your property should be made well before the bushfire danger period begins.

This decision depends on the needs and capabilities of your family members, as staying to defend a property is physically and psychologically demanding.

Read more from the RFS on this topic


The Rural Fire Service says the decision to leave must be made early – well before the fire front approaches.

The NSW RFS enquiry line is 1800 679 737


Defending your property

A well prepared property is more likely to survive a bushfire if able-bodied people are there to put out spotfires before, during and after the fire front passes, the Rural Fire Service says.


Preparations before the fire season (Oct – March):

-Clear dead branches and leaves from your garden, gutters and around your house

-Prune tree limbs less than 2m from the ground or overhanging your home

-Cut long grass within 20 m of your home

-Remove bark, heavy mulch, wood piles and other flammable materials from near your home

-Fit a gate valve to water tanks: a 38mm storz coupling will assist the RFS

-Consider installing a sprinkler system on your roof and/or garden

-Use heavy-duty hoses with wide nozzles, make sure they are long enough to reach all sides of your house

-Prepare a bushfire survival kits including drinking water, woollen blankets, extinguishers, first-aid kit, respirator mask, torch, radio, batteries, goggles, gloves

Before the fire danger approaches:

-Gather buckets, mops, ladders, hoses, extinguishers, fire blankets, shovel, powered water pump, bushfire kit and personal protective equipment in one place for ready access

-Fill reserve water supplies such as tanks and swimming pools, as mains water is in high demand during a fire

-Wear appropriate clothing to reduce your exposure to fire, smoke and radiation heat – natural fabrics that cover as much of your body as possible and a smoke mask or wet cloth

-Stay hydrated and drink plenty of water

-Prepare livestock and pets

Before the fire-front approaches

-Block drain pipes and fill gutters with water, remove outdoor furniture

-Sprinkle or spray vegetation near the house

-Patrol property for spot fires and extinguish them

-Stay close to the house, drink plenty of water

-Prepare inside house, close doors and windows, remove curtains, move furniture away from windows

-Soak towels and place under external doors

-Stay calm and report fires to triple zero

As the fire front arrives:

-Stay inside the house

-Try to extinguish any fires, including in the roof space

-Ensure you can exit the house should it catch alight

-Monitor the fire but keep away from windows

-Drink water, monitor welfare of others in the house

After the fire has passed

-Patrol property inside and out to extinguish spot fires
 

[start_date] => 06 February 2009 | 11:58:30 AM [comments_allowed] => 1 [source] => NSW Rural Fire Service [commentCount] => 0 [video] => [image] => Array ( [caption] => Losing a home to a bushfire can be a heartbreaking experience. (AAP) [useRegularImage] => 1 [media_library_id] => 62118 [site_id] => 1 [media_library_group_id] => 0 [media_usage_id] => 0 [filename] => site_1_rand_1369710682_bushfire_burnt_house_0602_b_aap.jpg [title] => bushfire_burnt_house_0602_B_aap_1369710682 [description] => file:site_1_rand_1369710682_bushfire_burnt_house_0602_b_aap.jpg [type] => [height] => 338 [width] => 450 [source] => [video_hi] => [video_lo] => [section] => [display_order] => 0 [create_date] => 2009-02-06 12:38:47 [active] => 1 [media_usage] => Article Large [usageWidth] => 300 [usageHeight] => 225 ) [imagePath] => http://media.sbs.com.au/news/upload_media/ [audio] => [reporter] => [relatedLinks] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 1078037 [label] => Bushfire-proof houses may not save lives [display_order] => 0 [type] => Article ) [1] => Array ( [id] => 1006256 [label] => What to do when a heat wave strikes? [display_order] => 2 [type] => Article ) ) [relatedArticles] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [article_id] => 1078037 [headline] => Bushfire-proof houses may not save lives [abstract] => There can be no guarantee a house built to withstand bushfires will save lives, the Victorian bushfires royal commission has heard. [content] =>

There can be no guarantee a house built to withstand bushfires will save lives, the Victorian bushfires royal commission has heard.

Ivan Donaldson, general manager of the Australian Building Codes Board, told the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission that regulations covering building in bushfire-prone areas only reduced the risk faced by residents.

The building code was only part of the solution, and not sufficient to deal with the risk to human life, he said.

"The ultimate intent or desire is that no one is injured or dies," Mr Donaldson told the commission on Wednesday.

"It's an aspiration. It is what the community would hope and anticipate.

"The reality is that you're faced with needing to deal with reducing rather than eliminating (risk)."

The commission earlier heard that people living in grasslands could be at risk during fires because there were no standards for building in those areas.

Mark Chladil, a fire management planning officer with the Tasmania Fire Service, said grass fires could be just as dangerous as forest fires, but no standards currently applied for building in grasslands.

Mr Chladil said 41 people were killed by a grass fire in Tasmania in 1967.

About half the northern end of Victoria's Kilmore fire which killed 121 people on February 7, Black Saturday, raged through grasslands, Mr Chladil told the commission on Wednesday.

The commission, led by former Supreme Court justice Bernard Teague, heard on Tuesday from a Country Fire Authority (CFA) member who lost his home in St Andrews on Black Saturday, despite the fact there were barely any trees and only very short grass on his property.

Mr Chladil, who is also a representative from the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, said he would be shortly submitting a proposal about standards for building in grasslands to Standards Australia.

The commission also heard that houses did not spontaneously ignite due to exposure to heat during a bushfire.

The commission has previously heard claims that some houses literally exploded during the February 7 bushfires, which killed a total of 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

CSIRO research scientist Justin Leonard said that in its own surveys the CSIRO had heard similar descriptions of houses "exploding".

But further investigations had often found those houses had caught on fire, and the blaze was fed by combustible material such as fuel, gas or paint tins, which ultimately caused the explosion.

Mr Leonard also told the commission a tool being developed to assess the defendability of homes against fire could be ready to trial later this year.

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 26 August 2009 [articletime] => 26 August 2009 [display_order] => 0 ) [1] => Array ( [article_id] => 1006256 [headline] => What to do when a heat wave strikes? [abstract] => St John Ambulance Training Officer Lisa Martin gives us an insight into how to better protect ourselves from heat injuries this summer.
[content] =>

With temperatures set to soar this summer, some cities may experience heat waves.

A heat wave is referred to as a prolonged period of excessively hot weather which is often accompanied by high humidity. Severe heat waves have eradicated crops, caused widespread power outages and killed thousands from hyperthermia

St Johns Ambulance Training Officer Lisa Martin tells us how we can better prepare ourselves for a scorching summer.

"To protect ourselves from heat stress and other stress related illness, it's best to really stay out of the sun as much as possible when the temperature gets to that extreme", says Ms Martin.

When the mercury rises, it's also advised to keep up your hydration levels.

"Keep the fluids up, and when we say fluids we mean things like water or electrolyte drinks in hot days".

Ms Martin says beverages like coffee and alcohol act as a diuretic and can often make you more dehydrated.

"At the start we have heat exhaustion… you feel very lethargic, head aches start, you're very tired, there's nausea and you will be starting to sweat profusely, so if you don't monitor yourself and stop what you're doing… that can lead to heat stroke".

Find out more on surviving the summer heat waves here.
 

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