Summer brings longer days, glowing tans, and increased risk of bushfires.
In New South Wales, the conditions for bushfires are perfect, with lengthy dry periods, humidity, and the presence of long grass, shrubbery, and vegetation.
Peak periods for bushfire are October through to March. Bushfire preparedness is crucial to survival and decreased risk of serious harm.
Damien Fear, Associate Supervisor Strategic Risk Management for the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Rural Fire Service, has been involved with the RFS forfifteen years—a volunteer since 2010 and later a staff member.
The biggest mistake Damien has found that people make when planning for bushfires is not planning at all. Since 2009, when the RFS launched the Prepare Act Survive campaign, figures for bush fire planning have increased from 30 percent to a peak of 81 percent. But those plans, according to Damien, are only loose, with people vaguely saying they will “leave early”.
‘People don’t know where they can get important information, what the bushfire line is, not knowing where they will go, what they will take, or who they will tell they are leaving,’ explains Damien.
‘The community should always be prepared, particularly in times of drought. Hornsby Ku-ring-gai is surrounded by bush, so having awareness of the bushfire risk is really beneficial for our community.’
Since Damien’s time with the RFS, he has seen a change in climate, resulting in an increase in the amount of severe weather events, including flooding, fires, or Cyclone Alfred earlier in the year. The last two major fire events in the local area were the Mount Ku-ring-gai Fires in 2007, which affected 1000 hectares, and the Hills Complex Fires in 2002 which covered 6,500 hectares, took 40 homes in the first day, and claimed the lives of two people. These occurred on hot, windy, summer days, and with increasing weather events, being prepared is more important than ever.
‘All the community needs to do is reach out to their local fire control centre,’ says Damien. ‘Either brigade members or staff members can come out and do a property assessment and give them advice or give a bushfire survival plan workbook.’
Some preparedness strategies include:
- Knowing your bushfire risk
- Cleaning out your gutters
- Installing gutter guards
- Removing any flammable
- objects away from the house
- Putting mesh over weep holes
- Having working hoses that reach the entire house
- Packing a ready survival kit of essentials
For a full list of survival strategies, visit www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/plan-and-prepare
