Get ready for the fire season with these articles and activities from our Six Week Get Ready Challenge. We cover a wide range of topics such as preparing your yard and house, making plans now so you will know what to do when a fire comes, interpreting information in the media about fires and deciding what actions to take based on your situation. And at the end we ask, What’s Your Plan B?
Emergencies come in all shapes and sizes, from the common blackout to a multi-day evacuation. Your box is your go to place for all of these. But what is an Emergency Kit? You’ve probably guessed it right – it’s a stash of things you’ll wish you had when an emergency has happened. We’ve prepared a list […]
Each member of your family should have their own personal grab bag. This bag contains your stuff. Stuff can be helpful to ease the stress of evacuation, especially for the kids. At the end of this article we’ve included a fun activity for kids and grown-ups of all ages to take part in. Involving the kids in […]
What conditions should you expect if you stay and defend your home? People who have stayed to defend their home during a bushfire describe the experience as “terrifying, hot and noisy”, “Sounds like a freight train” – It’s hard to imagine even with a video clip, just how you will feel in the moment. Recent fires […]
‘Get out and get out early’ During the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009, most people died where they thought they would be safest. Of the 173 people killed, two-thirds died in their own homes. Of those, a quarter died sheltering in the bath. The subsequent royal commission into the Black Saturday fires applied much critical […]
The usual Friday night dilemma, ‘What should I wear?’ So let’s start with dressing for safety and comfort so you will be ready to meet some of the toughest challenges you could ever be faced with. We want to give you a sense of what it might be like to defend your home. Let’s look at […]
Grab a hat, pop on the walking boots, time to check out your patch. TASK: Hazard Spotting Wearing your honorary firefighter helmet, take a walk around your local area and look upon it as a bush firefighter does. Take a pen and paper and note down what you find. We’ll refer back to it later in the […]
Experience has shown that the greatest risk to life in a bush fire is to those involved in car accidents as a result of poor visibility. Thick smoke and heat exposure while a fire front passes through can turn a moment of panic in to a deadly situation. It is always safest to leave early […]
Knowing the location of a wildfire in relation to where you are is critical when deciding whether to evacuate, stay where you are or move to a safer place. Typical sources of information are TV, radio, the Fires Near Me map at www.rfs.nsw.gov.au, the Fires Near Me App available from your mobile device’s App Store (free), and social […]