Tomorrow, December 23, is a bushfire danger day for most of Victoria, southern NSW and much of South Australia.
On such days, you never know where a bushfire will start or a flying ember will land. The golden rule - Be Prepared - means: 'do it yesterday'.
Be bushfire prepared at least first thing in the
morning. Put stock in a fallow or lucern paddock.
Bring pets indoors.
Put water, sprayers, buckets, mops, by vulnerable areas.
Close windows and doors and put draft stoppers at them. Close shutters if you have them - even temporary shutters of heavy duty foil or a 'sandwich' of insulation batts between galvanised iron sheets will help greatly. Move flammable
furnishings away from windows. Bring in flammable outdoor furniture. Close car windows. Park in non-flammable area. Have protective clothing, nose cover handy and
pure wool (NOT SYNTHETIC) blankets. Back up computer on external hard drive or
USB stick. If precious possessions haven’t been ‘boarded out’ for summer, cover
with heavy aluminium foil or bury them.
There are three core vulnerable areas of a house: the
roof space, windows, subfloor. Far
flying embers, not approaching flames, is what endangers houses. Houses burn
down from the inside when embers are blown inside. Flames can be stopped in their tracks by
thinning vegetation around your home and removing it from near windows and flammable walls.
Defenders, don’t waste energy and water by wetting house or turning on sprinklers before embers fall. Then concentrate on dousing embers. Put water on a burning
substance, not its flames. Don’t go near bush to fight flames.
The
defendability of a house depends on people with defendable ability - with
thorough bushfire safety knowledge.
Passive shelterers must stay by an exit door.
If determined to evacuate, make house as closed tight as
possible, cut grass short, get rid of flammable shrubs that are near windows or
timber walls, take protective clothing, water blanket and leave as early as you
can. Don’t wait for a fire to happen.
If caught by grassfire, stay in the car.
Essential Bushfire Safety Tips (CSIRO) and The Complete
Bushfire Safety Book have every fact on defending, leaving & sheltering
safely from bushfire.
