Gearing to play safe during fires

FIND the time to attend a local Fire Ready Victoria or Community Fireguard meeting this year.
That’s the message CFA Community Education co-ordinator Geoff Deacon has for Yarra Ranges residents as they head into a new year, and a potentially explosive fire season.
“It’s so easy to get caught up in the festivities at this time of year and forget that even though we are getting some rain and the days can be a bit chilly that it is summer and in the finest tradition of Melbourne’s weather, it can become very hot very quickly,” Mr Deacon said.
He said the Fire Ready and Community Fireguard meetings are a vital way for people to gain the knowledge that will help them prepare.
“We can help people understand the way fires are likely to behave in their area, how they can impact on people and homes and provide plenty of ideas about how to start planning and preparing a bushfire defence today.”
“Our message is quite clear,” Mr Deacon said, “If you live in areas where bushfires might happen, you must be prepared.
Victoria is extremely lucky to have such excellent fire services but during a bushfire it’s about everybody contributing, particularly in taking responsibility for preparing their own properties and families and ensuring that they have a clear plan about what they will do when a bushfire happens.”
“It’s a simple formula, the better you are prepared the faster your family will be able to get back to a normal life after a bushfire,” he said.
Families that have made a decision to stay and defend their properties against a bushfire need to have undertaken some serious planning and preparation works.
The CFA says those who plan to leave well before a bushfire occurs near them need to have a “plan B” just in case they get caught short by a bushfire starting close to them; in this case, to leave could be a worse decision than staying at the property.
“We know it’s totally unsafe to be on the roads during an active bushfire, the risk of crashing into other cars or fire trucks, running off the road because of almost zero visibility or being overrun by the fire front are highly probable,” said Mr Deacon.
“Even if you make it out of the local area you wouldn’t know whether or not your driving directly toward the fire or not,” he said.
So it’s really down to preparing every home that is situated in a possible bushfire area against the threat of bushfire, it is possible but takes serious planning and regular maintenance.
There are many considerations. What type of vegetation surrounds your home? How well is the house constructed? Is the right fire fighting equipment available? Is the house correctly insured?
Research shows that one in six of Australia’s 7.4 million homes are not covered by insurance and those that are, do not have adequate cover.
One of the most important things people need to do is be aware. Total Fire Ban Days are critical but even days that are a little milder can produce highly active bushfires and if they are near your place you need to be prepared.
When the risk of bushfire is high, CFA will be on full alert but it isn’t possible to give personal warnings to every home. Listen to your local ABC radio. Keep in contact with your neighbours. And watch for smoke. Keeping informed could save your life!