HANDY CHECKLISTS

PHONE APP MEDIA

In an emergency call Triple Zero (000) ‘Fires Near Me’ – free phone app Local radio, local ABC/emergency broadcaster frequency, TV, newspapers

By TTY: 106 (hearing / speech impaired)

By SMS relay – text 0423 677 767

By ordinary phone – dial 1800 555 727 and ask for Triple Zero (000) ‘Emergency +’ free phone app

fire.tas.gov.au

facebook.com/TasmaniaFireService

National Relay Service: nrschat.nrscall.gov.au twitter.com/tasfireservice By captioned relay: nrschat.nrscall.gov.au Interpreter: 131 450 (immediate phone interpreting 24 hours)

For other fire information, call the Tasmania Fire Service Information Line 1800 000 699

IMPORTANT!

During a bushfire, you could lose power and telecommunications. Do not rely on just one source of information.

PREPARE YOUR HOUSE & PROPERTY CHECKLIST

1. Mowing lawns – grass should be kept short (no more than 10cm high). Fire can ignite and travel quickly through long grass. If there are a lot of grass clippings, collect or rake them up and keep them away from any building or structure. With a strong wind, fire can travel across the top of your lawn by burning dry clippings.

2. Rake up leaves and small twigs.

3. Remove the lower branches of trees.

4. Prune shrubs and keep them away from windows: • Prune lower branches of shrubs to separate them from surface fuels underneath. • Prune shrubs well away from the branches of mature trees.

5. Don’t put flammable mulch on gardens.

6. Remove large shrubs from next to or under windows, away from wooden walls or under timber eaves or fascias.

7. Don’t put flammable mulch on gardens.

8. Move wood piles away from the house. Stray fire embers can easily ignite woodpiles.

9. Move doormats and furniture away from the house, decks and verandahs.

10. Keep gutters clean and your roof free of leaf litter.

11. Make sure there are no bird nests in gutters or eaves.

12. Move flammable liquids away from the house or any important flammable structure.

Where possible, store in flame-proof containers.

1. Make sure you know what the fire danger ratings mean.

2. Which fire danger rating is your trigger to leave? Or maybe triggers other actions.

3. Will you leave early on the morning of a bushfire or the night before? Leaving early is the safest option to protect yourself and your family. Leaving early means leaving the area before there are any signs of a fire – not when you can see flames or can’t see because of smoke. Leaving early means not being trapped or making the wrong choices. It means avoiding panic. It means not risking serious injury or death.

4. Planning to stay and defend your home is a big decision. You could be at serious risk of uncontrollable bushfire on days of Severe, Extreme or Catastrophic conditions. Most homes, especially older homes, are not designed to survive Extreme or Catastrophic conditions.

5. Where will you go? Do you have alternatives? Are these realistic options? If you do not have friends or relatives in low-risk areas who you can visit, consider community facilities such as libraries, shopping centres, swimming pools or cinemas.

6. Which route will you travel towards safety and how will you travel. What are your alternative routes in the event that a fire is already in the area or has closed off your preferred route?

7. What will you take with you? Have a list. Know where these things are. Gather them together before the season if you can.

8. What do you need to organise for your pets or livestock?

9. Are there any obvious or regular house and property preparations you need to undertake such as cleaning the gutters? When should you carry out these actions?

10. Who do you need to inform of your movements? Does someone else (e.g. family living elsewhere) know your plan?

11. Is there anyone outside of your household you need to help or check up on? Parents? Friends? Neighbours?

12. How will you stay informed about warnings and updates? See the information at the end of this booklet.

13. What will you do if there is a bushfire in your area and you cannot leave?

14. Remember to decide who will do what as part of your plan.

15. Know who you will inform about what you are doing so they can keep a check on your safety. Talk to your family and friends about how you’ll know when to leave and where to go to stay safe.

16. If you rely on others for care and support, your only safe option on serious bushfire risk days is to leave early – never wait to receive a warning.

17. Prepare a basic kit for each person in the household. This might be a simple bag with a range of items you can pack for when you are ready to leave. Items you might consider are: • A change of clothes (including a spare jumper), toiletries and sanitary needs (including nappies for babies). • Important items such as your passport, Will, insurance papers and photos. Remember that items such as photos could be scanned and taken on a USB stick or external hard drive rather than lots of photo albums. • Adequate bottles of water – it is a good idea to have a larger container of water in your car. • Medicines and first aid kit – remember to ensure medicines are not out of date. • A mobile phone charger with a detachable cord and a car lighter socket adapter. • A torch and a battery operated radio with spare batteries. • A woollen blanket or two. • Contact details both in your mobile phone(s) and on a piece of paper - doctor, council contacts, power company, internet service provider, insurance company, relatives and important friends. • Spare pet food and a travel cage or other means of transporting your pet(s) if you have any.

18. Write down your plan. It might be really hard to remember everything when you are surrounded by smoke, heat and flames.

19. Share your plan with others – neighbours, relatives and friends.

BUSHFIRE HAZARDS

EMBER ATTACK

• May occur from a fire hazard in very close proximity to a building (nearby trees, neighbouring houses). • May occur from fire behaviour in surrounding landscape. • Most common way houses catch fire during a bushfire. • Occurs when small, burning twigs, leaves and bark are carried by the wind, landing in and around a building. • Can happen before, during and after a bushfire. RADIANT HEAT

• Results from bushfire in close proximity to a building (up to 150 metres). • The heat you can feel from a fire. • Can ignite surfaces without flame contact or ember attack. • Dries out vegetation ahead of a bushfire so that it burns more readily. LOCALISED FLAMES

• Occurs from a bushfire in close proximity to a building (up to 50 metres). • Direct flame contact from individual elements such as vegetation, fences or structures. • Burning elements may arrive from neighbouring land. • Can occur in areas where the vegetation is modified or managed as a garden. • Not direct flame contact from a moving fire front.

FLAME CONTACT FROM FIRE FRONT

• Results from a bushfire in close proximity to a building (less than 150 metres). • Direct flame contact from a fire front where vegetation is in a mostly natural state (such as a forest reserve). • Occurs when a building is in close proximity to vegetation. • May arise in lower risk areas (such as from a local park) or in higher risk areas (larger vegetated areas such as forests and coastal reserves). EXTREME FIRE BEHAVIOUR

• Occurs from fire behaviour in surrounding landscape, including where it interacts with bushfire in close proximity to a building. • Arises in high risk landscapes, with long fire runs, steep topography and vegetation in a mostly natural state. • Influenced by fuel loads and drought conditions. • Associated with high temperatures, wind, cyclonic conditions, lightning. • Extreme ember attack will occur. • Associated with weather such as on Black

Saturday in Victoria. • Any fire that starts and takes hold will be so intense that life safety may be seriously compromised.

Hobart Town Hall, Macquarie Street, Hobart,Tasmania 7000 T 03 6238 2711 E coh@hobartcity.com.au W hobartcity.com.au