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BEFORE THE BUSHFIRE SEASON - Prevent/Prepare
- If possible, make a firebreak around your
home (use mower, spade, rake), trim branches well clear of the house.
Clear roof and gutters of leaves, twigs, etc
- Remove all rubbish, leaf litter and native
shrubs growing too close to house, Keep grass short and green.
- Fit wire screens to doors, windows, vents,
and enclose all gaps, roof eaves and the area under your house.
- Keep a ladder handy for roof acess (inside
and out) and fit hoses to reach all parts of the house and garden. If
water is not connected, obtain a high pressure pump.
- Store wood, fuel, paints, etc well clear
of the house.
- Check you have adequate insurance cover
for bushfire.
- Decide on a household plan to either leave
early or stay to protect your home during a bushfire (see below).
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IF A BUSHFIRE APPROACHES
Leave or Protect If you prepare as
noted above, unless you have decided to leave early or are ordered by
authorities to do so, stay in the house after taking these extra precautions:
- Phone the bushfire brigade - don't assume
they know.
- Turn off gas and power. Close all external
windows and doors, and block gaps from inside with wet towels.
- Fill baths, sinks, buckets, etc with reserve
water.
- Plug downpipes with rags and fill gutters
with water.
- Remove curtains and furniture away from
windows.
- Wear long, woollen or heavy cotten clothing,
solid boots or shoes, hat or woolen balaclava, and gloves.
- Hose down walls, garden, etc on sides facing
the fire and watch for spot fires from flying sparks or embers.
- When the main fire-front arrives go inside,
away from windows, while it passes (usually 5 to 15 minutes).
- Quickly extinguish any fires which may
have started in, near, or under the house or roof. Check inside roof
too.
- If the house is alight and can't be extinguished,
move away into burnt ground. Don't leave - wait for help.
- Listen to (battery) radio for official
local information.
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IF CAUGHT IN FIRE, DRIVING - Shelter in Car
Don't drive into or ner bushfires. If caught in
a bushfire don't drive through flames or thick smoke.
- Stop at a clearing or roadside in a low
vegetation area. Turn ignition off, and hazard lights and headights
on.
- Stay inside unless near safe shelter. Keep
vents, windows and doors closed. lie inside, below window level, under
a woollen blanket until fire-front passes.
- After the main fire-front passes, if heat
or fumes inside become severe, get out and move to already burnt ground,
keeping your whole body covered.
The petrol tank is unlikely to explode in the period
you need to stay in the car while being shielded from the deadly radiant
heat of the fire-front.
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IF CAUGHT IN FIRE, ON FOOT - Find Shelter
- Don't panic - cover all exposed skin.
- Move across-slope, away from the fire-front,
then down-slope towards the rear of the main fire.
- Find open, or already burnt ground. Don't
try to out-run fire, or go uphill, or even through low flames, unless
you can clearly see a safe area close by.
- If you can't avoid the fire, lie face down
under a bank, rock, loose earth, or in a hollow, or if possible get
into a dam or stream, but not a water tank.
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EMERGENCY SURVIVAL REQUIREMENTS
If faced with the dangers of radiant heat from flames,
body dehydration and smoke inhalation, emergency protection is possible,
even in high intensity fires. Wrap yourself in a heavy, pure wool blanket
and carry a flask of water to drink and moisten a blanket corner as a
smoke mask.
Brought to you by your State/Territory Emergency
Service. Developed, sponsored and published by Emergency Management Australia.
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